The Africa Channel-UK will begin airing popular South African sci-fi/paranormal detective series Room 9 on Monday, July 8, @9PM.
As Tambay first told us in November, when the 13-episode series was set to debut in SA, Room 9 is “set in an alternate “Pan-African universe,” where all sorts of unexplainable, paranormal dark threats rule.”
From the series’ website:
In an alternate, parallel world eerily familiar to our own,
in a city that could be Johannesburg or Kampala, Nairobi or Lagos, a war is
being waged; a war between light and dark, between good and evil. This is
the New Azania. The provinces as we once knew them in South Africa are no more.
Instead this new world is divided into Sectors.
Standing in the way of perpetual darkness is a ragtag team, a special,
under-the-radar division of the NAPD (the New Azanian Police Department) who
deal exclusively with the paranormal, the supernatural, the sacrilegious, the
twisted, and the unexplainable. This division, situated in a cavernous,
dingy basement, called Room 9 is perceived as a shadowy unit, a backwater for
every bizarre case, past, present, unsolved and unwanted. Other departments
disparagingly refer to this team as “Zombie Cops”.
Young, ambitious, driven, straight shooting police officer ALICE KUNENE (27) is excited at the
prospect of being transferred to this division, because it is her first post as
Detective, but she has no real idea what Room 9 is and what cases she will be
dealing with. She is thrown into the deep end on her first case, when a
domestic worker is found savaged to death in a Killarney-esque suburb, thought
to be the work of the Tokoloshe.
She immediately bumps heads with 57-year old Detective “DARKNESS” HARKNESS, the ageing, grizzled, head of Room
9, because she is fundamentally a non-believer of all things
supernatural. Alice is brought in, initially against her will, and
indoctrinated in the ways of Room 9, which include working with key members of
the unit, including research, ‘Siri’ using tech guru, RUBY PRINS (27), who despite being
blind has preternatural powers of foresight, and Nigerian Voodoo man SOLOMON ONYEGU, an expert in all
things paranormal. Welcome to the playground of the Devil, where
Satanic cults, Muti murders, the Tokoloshe, Demons, Poltergeists, Zombies, Werewolves,
Aliens, Vampires, and even a Mermaid, are all on the menu.
Zethu Dlomo, David Butler, Anthony Oseyemi, Angela Ludek, and Elne Pretorius make up the starring cast.
Looking at the video posted below, and just hearing the name of the paranormal squad’s leader (Harkness), on the surface, Room 9 is looking like a Torchwood knock-off. But because it’s an African-produced show, set in Africa, filmed with many local actors, I’m willing to overlook that.
There’s still no word on whether this series will ever make it across the Atlantic Ocean. And Room 9 hasn’t yet been released on DVD. So for readers on this side of the world who are interested (myself included), let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Room 9 will air on The Africa Channel (Sky 209, Virgin 828)
