African Liar Adaptation to Debut in April

The first African adaptation of Two Brothers Pictures’ Liar is slated to premiere in early April on a pan-African streamer followed by local terrestrial broadcasters, beginning on BTV.

Starring Motsoaledi Setumo (The Wife, Soweto Love Story) and Maxwell Dichi (Generations, Muvhango), the six-part adaptation was filmed on-location in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. In addition to being the first African adaptation for Liar, it is also All3Media International’s first scripted format to be produced in sub-Saharan Africa.

The African adaptation is made in partnership with Botswana Ignite, a film and TV industry development program initiatied by the Botswana government in partnership with Steve Harvey Global and facilitated on the ground by veteran producers Duncan and Kee-Leen Irvine.

Liar explores themes of consent and modern-day gender politics, portraying the experiences of two people whose initial attraction has far-reaching consequences.

Liar was originally produced in the U.K. by Two Brothers Pictures for ITV. To date, 15 versions have been commissioned, with versions launching in India, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Turkey, Malaysia and Georgia.

“This has been a groundbreaking achievement for Botswana to adapt Two Brothers Pictures’ globally successful Liar format into a first for the African continent,” said Duncan Irvine. “There is an exciting pool of young filmmaking talent here in Botswana that fueled the creative drive to produce a uniquely compelling African version of this powerful and universally relevant story.”

Lizzy Ribeiro, sales executive at All3Media International, commented, “We are thrilled our brilliant partners at Botswana Ignite have delivered such a premium adaptation of our global hit scripted format Liar, which is receiving positive feedback from the African market. It’s brilliant that the compelling scripts and powerful themes of consent and modern-day gender politics of the original version have attracted leading African talent both on screen and behind the screen, and especially exciting to see Botswana Ignite’s government-initiated industry programs coming to fruition.”