Egoli: Place of Gold

Egoli: Place of Gold was a bilingual (English and Afrikaans) South African soap opera which first aired on M-Net on 6 April 1992. South African television's first daily soap opera, on 3 December 1999 Egoli became the first South African television programme in any genre to reach 2,000 episodes. As of 3 August 2007, 4,000 episodes had aired. Egoli: Place of Gold aired its final episode on 31 March 2010, after 18 years of acting from South African and international actors.

The series was set in Johannesburg. The city of Johannesburg is also known by its isiZulu name, "eGoli", which means "the place of gold". Egoli was created by Franz Marx. The show is known in Afrikaans as Egoli: Plek van Goud.

Egoli was "aimed at women of all nationalities between the ages of 25 and 45, with middle or upper incomes." These spectaculars offered publicity for the series but also raised money for charity.

Cast members

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |Actor

! rowspan="2" |Character

! colspan="18" |Seasons / Year

|1 (1992)

|2 (1993)

|3 (1994)

|4 (1995)

|5 (1996)

|6 (1997)

|7 (1998)

|8 (1999)

|9 (2000)

|10 (2001)

|11 (2002)

|12 (2003)

|13 (2004)

|14 (2005)

|15 (2006)

|16 (2007)

|17 (2008)

|18 (2009)

|Nora Roelofse Naudé

|Main

|Brümilda van Rensburg

|Louwna Roelofse Vorster Edwards von Badenburg Edwards

|Main

| rowspan="2" |Shaleen Surtie-Richards

|Ester "Nenna" Willemse

|Main

|Ruby Willemse

| colspan="18" |

|Albertus "Bertie" Roelofse

|Main

|David Rees (actor)

|Niek Naudé

|Main

|Tiffany Kelly

|Sonet Vorster Naudé

|Main

|Hannah Botha

|Elsa du Plessis Pienaar

|Guest

|Main

| colspan="2" |

|David Vlok

|Timothy "Tim" Herholdt Vorster

|Main

| colspan="5" |

|Thoko Ntshinga

|Donna Makaula

|Main

| colspan="5" |

| rowspan="2" |Chantell Stander

|Joanne Logan du Plessis

|Main

| colspan="17" |

|Kimberly Logan Vorster Schults Du Rand Edwards

|Main

| colspan="5" |

|Lynette Strydom Vorster Makropoulos Malan

|Main

| colspan="7" |

|Deon du Plessis

|Main

| colspan="8" |

|Christel Smith

|Tarien Naudé

|Main

| colspan="4" |

|Guest

| colspan="7" |

|Esta TerBlanche

| rowspan="2" |Beatrice "Bienkie" Naudé Hartman

|Main

| colspan="13" |

|Christina Storm

| colspan="15" |

|Main

|Gé Korsten

|Walt Vorster

|Main

| colspan="15" |

|Phillip Moolman

|André Vorster

|Main

| colspan="15" |

|Jackie Davids

|Margaret Rose "Margie" Willemse Brink

|Main

| colspan="15" |

|Paul Brink

|Main

|Hermien Dommisse

|Monika Vorster

|Guest

|Main

|Charl Engelbrecht

|Arno Fourie

|Guest

|Main

|Nthati Moshesh

|Lerato Mashabela

|Guest

|Main

|Dewald Vorster

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Phillip Henn

|Johan Vorster

|Main

| colspan="16" |

|Sandra Prinsloo

|Cecile Roelofse Sinclair

|Main

| colspan="16" |

|Kevin Smith

|Andrew "Andy" Willemse

|Main

| colspan="16" |

|Stan Krige

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Wilson Dunster

|Alistair Milner-Smythe "Spider"

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Albert Maritz

|Jimmy Smuts

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|David Butler

|Brian Fletcher

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|James Whyle

|Tom Sinclair

|Main

| colspan="17" |

|Steve Hofmeyr

|Doug Du Rand / Otto Heimer

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Cliff Simon

|Gregory "Mitch" Mitchell

|Guest

| colspan="15" |

|Sorina Austin

|Reneé

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Mimi Coertse

|Isabeau Vorster

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Menasse

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Elize Cawood

|Irma Raubenheimer

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Gigi Strydom

|Moira Krige

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Macks Papo

|Tsheko Mashabela

|Guest

| colspan="16" |

|Catriona Andrew

| rowspan="2" |Jane Edwards Vorster Schoeman

| colspan="2" |

|Main

| colspan="5" |

|Corine du Toit

| colspan="13" |

|Main

|Ernst Eloff

|Buks Pienaar

| colspan="2" |

|Main

| colspan="2" |

|Nathan Gradwell

|Zack Blackburn

| colspan="2" |

|Main

| colspan="9" |

|David Dukes

|Johnney

| colspan="2" |

|Guest

| colspan="15" |

|Eckard Rabe

|Chris Edwards

| colspan="3" |

|Main

|Darryl Desmarais

|Stephen Edwards

| colspan="3" |

|Main

|Celia Kemp Steyn

|Angel

| colspan="3" |

|Guest

| colspan="14" |

|Chris Linford

|Rex de Koning Von Badenburg

| colspan="4" |

|Main

|Darren Kelfkens

|Joe Smith

| colspan="5" |

|Main

|Lindie van Eeden

|Karin Schoeman Edwards

| colspan="5" |

|Main

|Dorette Potgieter

|Susan Bosman

| colspan="5" |

|Guest

| colspan="12" |

|Ebi Halberstadt

|Braam Schoeman

| colspan="6" |

|Main

|Mandi Baard

|Lara

| colspan="12" |

|Main

|Tamarin du Toit

|Cat

| colspan="15" |

|Main

|Anton Fisher

|Spike Roberts

| colspan="13" |

|Main

| colspan="2" |

International Guest stars:

Joan Collins

In creating the international version, all Afrikaans-language scenes were filmed twice, first in Afrikaans, then in English.

In 1994 a local Hebrew adaptation was produced in Israel. The series was adapted for Israeli television to reflect local reality. The original storylines from the first season of Egoli served as the basis for the Israeli version. The series was titled "Zahav Shel Shotim" which translates to "Fool's Gold" in english.

Parodies

Egoli: Place of Gold was one of the South African soaps to be parodied by comedian Casper de Vries in his soap parody Haak en Steek.

Demise

The final episode of the series aired on 31 March 2010. The final episode included surprises and special guests and ended at the memorial.

Movie

It was announced in August 2009 that a movie entitled Egoli – The Movie would conclude the longest-running soap opera in South African history. The movie was directed by Bromley Cawood and produced by series creator and writer Franz Marx, in cooperation with Burgert Muller, a co-producer of the TV series, and Pieter Venter of Brigadiers-Franz Marx Films. Some sources list the title of the movie as Egoli: Afrikaners is Plesierig.

Other media and products

A book entitled Franz Marx's Egoli 2000 by Reinet Louw was published by Human & Rousseau in 1999. The English-language edition was a translation of the Afrikaans-language edition, Franz Marx se Egoli 2000, also published in 1999.