Reyka S1
Watch full episodes now“I can tell you things, Reyka, things you have forgotten… things that you want to hear,” says prisoner Angus Speelman (Iain Glen, Ser Jorah Mormont in fantasy series Game of Thrones). He’s speaking to criminal profiler Reyka Gama (Kim Engelbrecht, Marlize Devoe aka The Mechanic in sci-fi series The Flash) as tears well up in her eyes. This is the start of brand-new local thriller series Reyka and the creepiness is only just beginning.
Speelman kidnapped Reyka as a 12-year-old and held her hostage as he lived out his perverse dream of “the perfect family”. When she escaped, Reyka turned on Speelman and had him imprisoned, where he’s been for the past 22 years. Now though, Reyka needs his help catching a serial killer tormenting the KZN sugar cane fields.
There are two time zones in this story. “In number one, we get to know Speelman as a banana farmer during the period of Mandela’s release from prison in the ’90s. He abducts Reyka as a child and creates this weird ‘perfect’ little family unit in which Reyka is given every opportunity to develop herself. Yet she has been taken against her will and is not allowed to leave,” says Iain. “Number two is in the present day of the story, and Speelman is trying to reconnect with Reyka as his parole hearing approaches. They both have their own agendas. Reyka is trying to use Speelman to help her to understand the pathology of the serial killer she is trying to catch, while Speelman wants Reyka to help facilitate his release from prison even though she hates him,” says Iain, who was working in Cape Town when he was offered the role and filmed his scenes in six weeks during 2020 in Durban.
“Reyka is so damaged, which is the saddest thing,” says Kim. “She has been diagnosed with complex PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), she has a mother she can’t talk to, and she’s unable to have a relationship with her own daughter.”
Reyka’s life is in shambles but she’s trying to fix things by focussing on her work. “She has dedicated her life to her job – that’s her life force, her driving force and the one thing she knows she can excel at,” says Kim.
New episodes land every Sunday night on M-Net, channel 101, and stream on DStv online.