SO LAAN, FAREWELL!

The beloved soapie is coming to an end later this year – we catch up with actors whose characters have household names in many South African homes

IT'S been 23 years since South Africans were first introduced to 7de Laan and its colourful characters who became firm favourites in many homes.

There was Hilda with her interesting scarves and Oubaas with his many malapropisms. Ryno had his five weddings as he kept searching for love and Sandra's schemes became ever more scandalous as time went on. Dezi became beloved, especially after she went blind, and Paula bedazzled with that je ne sais quoi.

These characters have come and gone and others have entered the popular SABC2 soapie created by producers Danie Odendaal and Annie Basson. But now the series that first aired on 4 April 2000 is coming to an end and from December Hillside will no longer be beaming into homes.

YOU chatted to some of the soap's muchloved characters.

MELANIE DU BOIS (FELICITY)

I was 26 when I joined 7de Laan and I played Felicity for 16 years.

I got very emotional when I heard it was ending because it was part of my life for such a long time.

While I was there, I struggled to get pregnant.

I had many failures, but one morning when I showed up on set and couldn't stop smiling. Everyone was happy for me because they knew my struggles.

The hardest storyline was when Felicity's husband, Herman, died. That storyline was shot in the time shortly after my sister's death.

7de Laan was such a big part of me. I got engaged, got married, had a baby, divorced and suffered a loss in the family during my time there.

ANNA-MART VAN DER MERWE (CHRISTELLE)

We started shooting in January 2000 at Lonehill Studios in Fourways, Johannesburg and it was nerve-racking and exciting.

We started shooting as one big family with only the promise of a three-month contract with the SABC.