{"id":151140,"date":"2025-11-24T12:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151140\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:23:10","slug":"the-office-south-african-adaptation-die-kantoor-sets-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151140\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Office’ South African Adaptation ‘Die Kantoor’ Sets Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Afrikaans-language adaptation of \u201cThe Office<\/a>\u201d has locked in its premiere date, with \u201cDie Kantoor\u201d set to debut on Showmax on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

\n\tBroadcaster kykNET will preview the first episode on Jan. 18, ahead of the double-episode premiere on the African streamer two days later.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe South African version marks the 14th international adaptation of the BBC Studios format. The series relocates the workplace from a paper company to Deluxe Processed Meats, a polony manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\n\tSAFTA and Silwerskerm winner Bennie Fourie is writing and directing the adaptation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a massive honor to be able to make the show,\u201d Fourie said. \u201cWhen we started way back with \u201cHotel,\u201d this was the type of show that we were trying to emulate. I don\u2019t think we were ready to make it then but after 10 years of playing with the mockumentary genre, now is the perfect time for us to do this. Everything has really fallen into place and we\u2019re extremely excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFourie emphasized the series reimagines the format for South African audiences rather than offering a direct translation. \u201cSouth Africa<\/a> is not the U.K. and it\u2019s not the U.S., and we really wanted to reflect that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe choice of a polony manufacturer as the workplace setting reflects local culture while maintaining the format\u2019s signature awkward dynamics. \u201cSouth Africa is a proud meat-consuming nation,\u201d Fourie explained. \u201cFrom biltong to dro\u00ebwors to steak, many South Africans find some of our identity in the meat we eat. But polony is not on that list. It\u2019s just so flippen pink. When you\u2019re standing around a braai, the last thing you want to say is that you are passionate about polony. Especially after that Listeriosis outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlbert Pretorius, winner of the 2025 Fleur du Cap award, leads the cast as Flip, the office manager. \u201cFlip\u2019s only been the manager for the last year but he\u2019s excited to welcome the documentary crew,\u201d Fourie said. \u201cHe feels like this is his \u2018Chasing the Sun\u2019 [rugby documentary]; like his rise to greatness needs to be recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ensemble includes SAFTA winner Schalk Bezuidenhout, Lida Botha, Carl Beukes, Silwerskerm winner Ilse Oppelt, Daniah de Villiers, Mehboob Bawa, Sipumziwe Lucwaba and newcomer Gert du Plessis.<\/p>\n

\n\tRapid Blue, part of BBC Studios, is producing the Showmax Original, with BBC Studios handling global sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur very first Showmax Original was a mockumentary, \u2018Tali\u2019s Wedding Diary,\u2019 so reimagining the most iconic mockumentary of them all has been a full circle moment for us,\u201d said Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, executive head of content at Showmax, part of MultiChoice, a Canal+ company.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original British series, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, debuted over 20 years ago. The format has since been adapted in territories including Australia, France, Canada, Chile, Israel, India, the Middle East and Poland. The U.S. version won five Emmys, including outstanding comedy series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Afrikaans-language adaptation of \u201cThe Office\u201d has locked in its premiere date, with \u201cDie Kantoor\u201d set to debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,1466,924,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-151140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-south-africa","13":"tag-the-office","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}