SOUTH AFRICAN ODYSSEY: OTI MABUSE AND REV RICHARD COLES TO FRONT NEW CHANNEL 4 TRAVELOGUE

This is a four-part series about coming home - but also seeing home with new eyes. Oti Mabuse left South Africa at 21 to pursue a life in dance. Now, she’s heading back – older, bolder, and full of questions.

What’s changed? What’s stayed the same? And how well do you really know the place you were born once you’ve lived most of your life away from it? But she’s not doing it alone.

Joining her is her brilliantly unexpected bestie: Reverend Richard Coles – priest, pop star, philosopher, and unapologetic fan of a scenic train journey and a well-brewed tea. He’s never been to South Africa, and he’s wildly curious. Also slightly sun sensitive. 

Together, they set off across four wildly different provinces in search of stories, landscapes, laughter, and layered truths. Yes, they go deep. But they also dance, swim, laugh until their sides hurt, and eat their body weight in bunny chow. This isn’t a history lecture – it’s a moving, musical, sometimes messy, very human road trip through a country that refuses to be boxed in.

Oti & Richard's South African Odyssey (4 x 60’) will be executive produced by Charlotte Davis, David Nottage & Neil Edwards. The Producer/Director is Chris Williams and Head of Production is Caroline Allan.