News24 | ‘Is this really happening?’ Basetsana Kumalo on Top Billing’s long-awaited 2026 comeback

• Top Billing is set to return to SABC3 in 2026 for a new season.
• The show was cancelled in 2019 after 25 years on the air.
• Tuesday’s reunion event was attended by previous presenters, including Michael Mol, Basetsana Kumalo and more.

Lifestyle TV show Top Billing is set to return to S3 in 2026 for a new season.

Executive producer Bradley van den Berg announced the show’s return on Tuesday, during a Top Billing reunion event that featured the show’s past presenters.

“We are proud to announce that [in] March 2026, Top Billing is back,” Van den Berg said.

Top Billing was cancelled in 2019 after 25 years on the air. SABC3 had subsequently started airing reruns of the show, and Van den Berg said, “people were tuning in.”

“We were looking at the audience numbers, and they were still in the top 10. People still wanted Top Billing,” he said.

“We, of course, wanted to bring it back,” he said.

“We have a willing SABC that…believes in us, but I think more importantly, we’ve got brands like Corona…that can still believe in the brand.”

“I think it’s an exciting time, because we’re in a different format. We’re in an omni-platform where we know how to deliver content to wherever you are,” he said.

Tuesday’s reunion event was attended by previous presenters, including Michael Mol, Basetsana Kumalo, Janez Vermeiren, Jonathan Boynton-Lee, Ryle De Morny, Fezile Mkhize, and Harmony Katulondi.

Mol said he had no idea that there would be an announcement of the show’s return ahead of the event and said it was a “big surprise.”

“There’s a generation that doesn’t know Top Billing, they don’t understand the Top Billing phrase, they don’t understand what we grew up on and the kind of cultural phenomenon that Top Billing was,” Mol said.

“I do think they’ve missed out a little bit, and I’m excited by the reboot.”

He is looking forward to what new things the show will do with the 2026 revival.

“I think Top Billing’s aspirational nature was really what got into people’s hearts,” he added.

Mol also hopes the reboot will maintain the “authenticity” the show has always had.

“I remember in the early days I wasn’t trained to be on camera, but I remember a cameraman saying to me, ‘Look into this camera like it was your friend,’” Mol shares.

“That was actually quite a defining moment.”

“My wife was once asked…‘What’s Michael really like when the camera is not rolling?’ And she was amazing, she said, ‘Actually, what you see is what I get.’”

Kumalo told News24:

“My initial reaction when I heard that SABC has recommissioned Top Billing to come back on air was like, ‘OMG, is this really happening?’”

“It’s exciting to see that [S3] has heeded the call of the public to bring back Top Billing because it’s part of South African pop culture and it has found resonance with audiences across different demographics,” Kumalo added.

“To know that come March, Top Billing will be back on our screens is really just magical; It’s like a full circle moment.”

“I’ve been on Top Billing since I was 20, and now I’m 51 and fabulous. Three decades later, we’re going to have the best of the good life back on the screens,” she added.

As a presenter, Kumalo said Top Billing is about “appreciating and respecting the craft of being in front of the camera.”

“You come into people’s homes every week, and the sense of responsibility that comes with that is something that I want to encourage the new talent to continue to uphold.”

Sane Zondi, head of the S3 channel, said that social media comments and public sentiment indicated to them that legacy media “still has a place for powerful storytelling in this rapidly evolving media landscape and the fragmented industry which we’re all trying to navigate.”

She added: “I think that cultural realisation, the public sentiment together with some of the viewership numbers and the stats we looked at, is part of the decision that then allowed us to say, ‘Okay, it’s time, let’s do this thing.’”

Themba Gwejela, SABC’s group executive for corporate affairs, said, “It was a no-brainer for the SABC to really just listen to the audiences that tell us that this needs to come back.”

“I think platforms like Top Billing actually speak to everyone in South Africa, because no matter how poor or rich you are, you aspire to happiness, you aspire to celebrate in whatever form that you’re able to do that,” he added.

Top Billing also announced that they partnered with Corona for a Reunion Special, coming out on 27 November at 19:00 on S3. In the special, they are set to celebrate “SA’s most beautiful beaches.”

Corona announced earlier this year that four of South Africa’s beaches were recognised in their Corona Beach 100 list. The beaches include Kraalbaai in Langebaan, Boulders Beach, Nature’s Valley in Plettenberg Bay and Camps Bay.

READ | Ten reasons why a Top Billing comeback could transform the SABC’s fortunes