Over the years, Scandal! chief writer and creative producer Grace Mahlaba has maintained her excellence by crafting compelling and relevant story lines.

This year, Scandal! will celebrate 20 years of television. The Maseko wedding, which took place over Valentine’s Week and attracted an incredible 4,2 million viewers, was one of the show’s most recent highlights.

 

Since Scandal! and SABC 1’s daily drama series Skeem Saam now air at the same time, many predict a decline in viewership for one of the shows.According to Sunday World, actress Mahlaba stated that since the shows are so different, Skeem Saam’s change in time on air is not a threat.

“When you know yourself, you know yourself. I believe that the people who watch us know us and have identified themselves with our taste. If we keep dishing the dish that they came for, I think we will be fine.”

“Competition has always been there for us; it is just that SABC had different shows on the timeslot, but we had the staying power. Time will tell if we are confident in the stories that we tell and if we are not going to sleep or slumber. Our worst-case scenario is that we will have to share the audience,” said Mahlaba.

After 14 years with Scandal!, Mahlaba revealed that she never imagined staying for longer than a year.

“I came here to learn what happens behind the scenes. After I finished Backstage, I wanted to learn more about writing and where it is going in terms of women. I had been worried for years because I felt like the people who were writing for these female characters were a bit out of touch.

“I just happen to be lucky that I speak, read and write all South African languages, so that for me was the biggest thing, and Scandal! was too English. If we want to reach these people, let’s reach them in our languages.”