Netflix, the world’s leading online entertainment service, announced on Monday the production of new TV show Abla Fahita, based on Egypt’s controversial TV programme hosted by the puppet character Abla Fahita in 2014, and to be released in 2020.
Abla Fahita first started back in 2011 on social media and the character gradually developed to soon be a part of a weekly TV show, called Live from the Duplex, broadcasted on CBC channel, where Abla Fahita presents a combination of social satire with some political content and a part of each episode was dedicated to hosting a famous person.
Netflix announced in a statement that the new show is to “follow the amazing adventures of Abla Fahita after becoming one of the leading stars in the Arab World, her life turns upside down when she finds herself being chased by the law and society. This will be Abla Fahita’s first attempt at acting in a scripted series, having entertained millions of audiences on television before.”
Limited for 18+ viewers, Abla Fahita has come to be known and loved as the critical female puppet with a sharp tongue. Her conversations are never free of sexual innuendos, and she often makes fun of her own show’s guests of honour.
“Damn this globalization! I barely had enough time for my own show and now they want me to do a series,” Abla Fahita said in a statement commenting on her partnership with Netflix.
“The only thing that made me consider their offer, is that Netflix will release the series in more than 20 languages and it will be watched in 190 countries by more than 158 million viewers with their relatives worldwide. I always say that Egyptian comedy is a great product for export after the Egyptian cotton. And it’s obvious how the world today is a sad place in dire need of laughter. Nothing beats the Egyptian Sense of humour to relieve the world of its misery,” she added.
The Netflix series is to be produced by OKWRD production in cooperation with ASAP Productions, and executive producer Amin El Masri.
The satirical puppet show will be Netflix’s second original series in Egypt after Paranormal, which is based on the best-selling book series in the Arab world by late author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, Ma Waraa El-Tabea’a, directed by Amr Salama, and produced by Mohamed Hefzy.