After 23 years on air, SABC 2 and Danie Odendaal Productions announced Monday that the long-running popular soapie 7de Laan will end after season 24.

The last episode will poignantly be aired on the day after Christmas - 26 December 2023.

The SABC didn't provide any reason for the show's cancellation, but in response to a media query, tells News24 that "7de Laan will not be recommissioned for another season when season 24 comes to an end in December 2023".

7de Laan was first broadcast on 4 April 2000 - initially with only one episode a week before it grew to five days a week - making household names of numerous actors and their characters who inhabited the fictional Hillside suburb in Johannesburg.

Created as a stand-in for the eclectic real-life Melville in Johannesburg, the show spawned roadshows and cookbooks over the past two decades as South Africans started quoting some of the characters' sayings, like Oubaas' malapropisms.

Lala Tuku, SABC head of content for video entertainment, says, "The SABC is proud to have worked with Danie Odendaal Productions and been part of the journey leading and producing the best Afrikaans soapie on local television for SABC 2. 7de Laan has penetrated the hearts of millions of South Africans.

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