“It’s very difficult to make a product that will be seen as South African by all South Africans,” says the SAFTA-winning Nikiwe. “I think we achieved it; I think something shifted in the way audiences look at local productions.”

While it is primarily dramatic entertainment, Intersexions incorporates messaging about lifestyles and sexual health, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS. It is co-produced by Curious Pictures and Ants Multimedia, in partnership with Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) and SABC Education, with funding from USAID and PEPFAR.

Nikiwe, who got his directing break seven years ago with another acclaimed JHHESA-backed series, TshaTsha, and has gone on to direct on series such as Hard Copy, The Lab and A Place Called Home, as well as being the creative force behind Rhythm City, says Intersexions brought out the best in South African creativity.

“Intersexions is testimony to the talent that resides in this country, be it the production crew, the cast or the new directors,” he declares.

He adds: “This is something that has always frustrated me about South Africa – we have the talent, but it’s not reflected in what we produce.”

During the conceptualisation stages of the Intersexions production, for example, the production team had fretted that they would not be able to find enough actors to play the series’ myriad roles. Their experience, however, suggested the opposite.

“We found that it wasn’t a problem to cast the series. In fact, we have plenty of talented actors in this country. There just aren’t enough roles for them,” he says.

As Creative Director for the series, Nikiwe not only directed 10 of the 26 episodes himself, but he fulfilled the role of coach and mentor to the other five directors – Catharine Cooke, John Trengove, Pheello PJ Makosho, Zuko Nodada and Nonny Malete – some of whom made their directorial debut with Intersexions. And he is 'very proud' of how they performed, saying: “Everybody brought their A-game.”

One of the secrets to their success, he says, was giving the directors their head.
“I wanted to do this differently; I wanted them to have their freedom ... we let them loose, and they did great stuff.”

Another critical element to the success of Intersexions, which became South Africans’ second-favourite programme across all genres only three weeks into its run, was the quality and breadth of the scenarios – all of them separate but interlinked stories, illustrating the human sexual network in which we all live.

“Each one is that story and that story alone; it needs and deserves its own treatment, and the characters, their words and their worlds must ring true.

“The stories are universal in their appeal, but what makes them uniquely South African lies in the detail,” he says, paying tribute also to the strength of Intersexions’ writers and the wealth of South African tales into which they had tapped. The challenge to the directors had been to take the scripts, and make better episodes than the writers had conceived.

“We wanted the stories to catch people,” he says. “We wanted to sell us back to ourselves – and we bought it.”