The Girl From St Agnes. Picture: Showmax
Last year, it was Tali’s Wedding Diary that changed the South African streaming landscape with the first Showmax Original show wholly produced by the streaming service.
This week, The Girl from St Agnes, Showmax’s first original drama, wrapped filming in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and Johannesburg. The eight-part whodunnit premieres on January 31.
“Our first Original – last year’s lighthearted comedy Tali’s Wedding Diary – had the most successful launch day of any series on Showmax ever,” says head of content Candice Fangueiro.
“The Girl from St Agnes is a dark murder mystery that will keep you guessing and taps into the current conversations in South Africa about #MeToo and teen sexuality.”
At St Agnes, a prestigious all-girls boarding school in the Midlands, a popular student is found dead at the base of the old mill. Fearful of the scandal it might cause, the school is quick to declare the death of Lexi Summerveld a tragic accident. But drama teacher Kate Ballard doesn’t believe it.
On the night of her death, an upset Summerveld had been trying to call her, and Ballard had ignored her. Now wracked with guilt, Ballard attempts to piece together the terrible truth. The more she investigates, the more she realises that she didn’t know Summerveld or the school at all.
The Girl from St Agnes. Picture: Showmax
Newcomer Jane de Wet was handpicked to play Summerveld by South African casting director Moonyeenn Lee (Tsotsi), who’s been nominated for two Emmy awards in the last three years.
Ballard is played by Nina Milner, who modelled for Vogue Germany and at Paris Fashion Week last year and recently starred in Troy: Fall Of A City as Penthesilea.
De Wet and Milner are joined by a supporting cast that includes Robert Hobbs (District 9), Tyrone Keogh (24 Hours To Live), Tessa Jubber (Wallander), Karl Thaning (Dredd), and Shamilla Miller (Troy: Fall Of A City) opposite local favourites Celeste Khumalo (The Queen), Richard Lukunku (Happiness Is A Four-Letter Word), Zakeeya Patel (High Rollers), Graham Hopkins (The Lab) and three-time SA Film and TV award-winner Jerry Mofokeng.
What makes The Girl from St Agnes a rare TV series is that it’s commissioned, produced, written and directed by women.
“What links The Girl from St Agnes, Tali’s Wedding Diary and other Showmax Originals in the pipeline is our aim to work with the best SA talent and be the home for brave, quirky and at times edgy stories you wouldn’t find anywhere else,” Fangueiro said.
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