“Donkerbos” – Series Review

“Donkerbos”, the title of this eight-episode South African miniseries is Afrikaans for “dark forest”. That’s proper, since it’s where the most significant action in this procedural about multiple child homicides occurs, as well as being the name of the small town in Limpopo in which the story unfolds. The series opens with one boy being chased through the woods and possibly killed. Next, the head and partial remains of an unidentified child are found. Then the bodies of six others are unearthed among the roots of a large tree, with indications of ritualistic motives for those horrible crimes.

The main cop is Fanie (Erica Wessels), who had been transferred from her last position in Pretoria for some non-favorable reason that takes a while for us to learn. Her main colleague among the locals, Sybrand (Wilhelm van der Walt), is easing his way back into the job after six months of psych leave for some incident of his own. Her new partner, Detective Tsedza Tshivenga (Sanda Shandu) has been assigned from Pretoria to help with this case due to Sybrand’s uncertain status.

A whole bunch of subplots are tossed into the package, ranging from the fact that one of the six kids is the police chief’s daughter, to unraveling the mythology behind the group murders, to several current issues among the adults and kids in the rest of the community. It also gives us a fairly large serving of media frenzy, and some of the sleazeball tactics reporters may use to get their scoops.

As is often the case, the series runs longer and unfolds more slowly than it should have. A plethora of vague flashbacks and time shifts make plot progression harder to follow than need be.  The dramatic tension would have been significantly enhanced by a tighter package, without sacrificing any of the character arcs or story lines. There’s a lot more melodrama in the mix than some might prefer enroute to learning backstories and reaching solutions.

If you’re in the mood for a series that presents multiple stories among a large cast of players, this may suit you. Performances are solid all around, and the production delivers many visual assets among the rural environs – especially in transition scenes. A binge is advisable, since there are so many moving parts to keep track of.

“Donkerbos”, in Afrikaans and English, streams on MHz Choice beginning October 7, 2025.

RATING: 2 Out of 4 Stars