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Pioneering East African drama reaches 5m

Actresses from Makutano Junction on the set

Image courtesy of MEDIAE

An innovative television drama series, produced with DFID funding, is educating rural people in East Africa about issues that matter to them.

Called Makutano Junction, it aims to entertain and educate English-speaking millions of East Africans with access to television, using accessible storylines which deal with malaria prevention, safe sex, parental involvement in schools, how to look after donkeys and more.

The opportunity to reach previously unattainable audiences through television, in more remote parts of Kenya is enormous. Makutano Junction has reached 5 million regular viewers in Kenya alone, broadcasting through the Kenya Broadcast Corporation (KBC).

Developing local expertise

A donkey walks on to the set of Makutano Junction

Image courtesy of MEDIAE

Makutano Junction is set on the outskirts of a large town in Kenya, about the loves and lives of certain characters who live in Makutano.

The first 13-part series was broadcast in Kenya between October and December 2005. Filming for the second series is currently underway in Nairobi and will be broadcast later in the year on KBC. It will also be broadcast in Tanzania and Uganda.

The drama promises to set a new standard for local TV production in East Africa, and the project has worked hard to ensure that local crew get access to leading industry professionals. As a result, the production values, storyline and acting have been developed with input from the director of the award-winning UK soap EastEnders.

The production company, Mediae, recruited and trained (using a script editor from UK crime drama The Bill) a local team of writers, film crew and actors to make the soap as professional and compelling to African audiences as possible.

Work on the series will also develop Kenyan capacity to make sustainable quality low-cost TV programmes on topical issues. There is growing interest too from the commercial sector to support the drama - in fact, the first series has achieved the highest price in KBC’s history for advertising space during the drama.

DFID have supported the project, with the aim of researching the effectiveness of television with rural and peri-urban East African audiences and future opportunities that television may offer.

Mediae's website

Key facts

Makutano Junction is a Television Drama Series in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania produced by the Mediae
The first 13 part series was broadcast in Kenya between October and December 2005. Filming for the second series is currently underway in Nairobi and will be broadcast later in the year on KBC. It will also be broadcast in Tanzania and Uganda
MEDIAE is a Kenya-based British producer of educational and entertainment TV and radio programmes
In Kenya television ownership has increased dramatically in the last six years, from 23% of households owning a TV set in 1998, to 34% in 2004. 50% of TV owners live in rural areas and this trend is set to continue
The programme will also study the effectiveness of TV at improving knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst the audiences, and will draw out lessons about the best way to share key development issues with the wider public
DFID’s Central Research Department, Ford Foundation and others support the production and audience research.

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