Who Hired The Hitman? Chilling Real-Life Cases Explored In New Series Debuting On Investigation Discovery In Africa

Investigation Discovery, the world’s leading true‑crime destination, is set to unveil its gripping new six‑part series WHO HIRED THE HITMAN?. Premiering Tuesday, 9 December at 21:00 on ID Africa, the series delves into chilling real‑life cases of contract killings, exposing how greed, betrayal, and ruthless ambition can turn deadly. New episodes will air weekly.

 

Featuring six gripping cases, WHO HIRED THE HITMAN? follows the tangled trails of phone calls, suspects, alibis, and hidden motives behind murder‑for‑hire plots. Each episode unravels a unique web of intrigue, from the killing of a snowplough driver that shakes his community, to a real estate entrepreneur caught at the centre of multiple murder attempts. At the heart of every story lies one haunting question: Who is the mastermind pulling the strings? The season premiere, Home on the Rage, airing Tuesday, 9 December 2025, begins with a farmer found dead on his kitchen floor, sparking a complex investigation where everyone on the property becomes a suspect, until a shocking discovery changes everything.

 

Additional episodes this season include: 

The Murder of Big Joe

Premieres Tuesday, 16 December 2025

The midnight murder of a snowplough man puts his friends on edge as their tiny town struggles to root out the culprit. Then, police find a clue on the victim's forehead that may be the killer’s calling card.

 

The Witch Doctor

Premieres Tuesday, 23 December 2025

Killers murder an adrenaline-junkie young father, and detectives sift through tales of illegal chicken fighting, drag racing, cheating, and a mysterious figure nicknamed “The Witch Doctor.”

 

A Hard Man to Kill

Premieres Tuesday, 30 December 2025

For a year, the NYPD follows a bloody trail of murder attempts against a real estate entrepreneur, only to discover that no one is who they seem. The victim has ties to a mob family, and the mastermind is closer than they realised.

 

The Genius and the Mastermind 

Premieres Tuesday, 6 January 2026

The assassination of a computer genius sends detectives on a two-decade hunt for missing gold, uncovers a shocking link to a Saudi sheikh, and exposes a deadly international scheme that claims another life.

 

Dead Body Shop 

Premieres Tuesday, 13 January 2026

A gunman executes three mechanics in a sleepy Connecticut town. Detectives scrape for evidence and uncover a world of chatrooms, embezzlement, an illicit love affair, and three families of potential suspects.   

Afrikaans Adaptation Of The Office To Premiere In January On Showmax

African streamer Showmax is in production on a South African adaptation of global hit format The Office, licensed by BBC Studios.

kykNET will preview the first episode at 8PM on Sunday, 18 January, ahead of the Showmax double bill premiere on Tuesday, 20 January. 

It was more than 20 years ago that the world was introduced to the wonderfully bleak mockumentary world of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. MetaCritic lists the original British version as the best-reviewed comedy series of all time, while the American version won five Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series, and was the most streamed show in the world in 2020. 

This universal appeal has seen the BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning cult comedy remade for audiences around the world, including Australia, France, Canada, Chile, Israel, India, the Middle East, and Poland. 

The South African edition of The Office, to be called Die Kantoor, will be its 14th adaptation and will be filmed primarily in Afrikaans. 

Rapid Blue, part of BBC Studios, is producing the Showmax Original, with BBC Studios handling global sales.

SAFTA and Silwerskerm winner Bennie Fourie is the head writer and director. He is the co-creator of SAFTA Best TV Comedy winner Hotel and plays Baltus in the award-winning mockumentary Magda Louw. 

“It's a massive honour to be able to make the show,” says Bennie. “When we started way back with Hotel, this was the type of show that we were trying to emulate. I don’t think we were ready to make it then but after 10 years of playing with the mockumentary genre, now is the perfect time for us to do this. Everything has really fallen into place and we’re extremely excited.”  

Bennie is clear he’s not just translating The Office into Afrikaans to remake it shot-by-shot with local actors. Instead, he’s reimagined it from the ground up. “South Africa is not the UK and it’s not the US, and we really wanted to reflect that,” says Bennie.

This started by changing the office setting from a paper company to Deluxe Processed Meats, which specialises in polony. 

“South Africa is a proud meat-consuming nation,” says Bennie. “From biltong to droëwors to steak, many South Africans find some of our identity in the meat we eat. But polony is not on that list. It’s just so flippen pink. When you’re standing around a braai, the last thing you want to say is that you are passionate about polony. Especially after that Listeriosis outbreak.”

The staff are looked down upon by their head office, Deluxe Meats, who specialise in prime cuts, and no one feels safe in their positions, as a BBBEE business consortium recently bought a large part of the company.

Rapid Blue produced Is’thunzi, which earned Thuso Mbedu two International Emmy nominations. They’ve assembled a mix of familiar and fresh faces for Die Kantoor, led by 2025 Fleur du Cap winner Albert Pretorius (Niggies; Nêrens, Noord-Kaap) as Flip, the office manager. 

“Flip’s only been the manager for the last year but he’s excited to welcome the documentary crew,” says Bennie. “He feels like this is his Chasing the Sun; like his rise to greatness needs to be recorded.” 

The ensemble cast also includes SAFTA winner Schalk Bezuidenhout (Kanarie, Hotel), screen legend Lida Botha (Die Kwiksilvers), Carl Beukes (Jozi, The Shakedown), Silwerskerm winner Ilse Oppelt (Oh Schuks I’m Gatvol, Fishy Fêshuns), Daniah de Villiers (Mia in Mia and the White Lion), Mehboob Bawa (Bhai in Bhai’s Cafe), former KFM presenter Sipumziwe Lucwaba, and newcomer Gert du Plessis. 

“Our very first Showmax Original was a mockumentary, Tali’s Wedding Diary, so reimagining the most iconic mockumentary of them all has been a full circle moment for us,” says Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, executive head of content at Showmax, part of MultiChoice, a CANAL+ company.

The announcement comes as South Africa celebrates being in third place overall at tonight’s International Emmy Awards in New York, with a record five nominations: Showmax’s Koek (Drama) and Catch Me A Killer (Actress: Charlotte Hope), M-Net’s School Ties (Documentary), SuperSport’s Chasing The Sun 2 (Sports Documentary), and Play Room Live (Kids: Factual and Entertainment). 

While you wait for the South African version in January, re-watch the US version of The Office S1-9 on Showmax.

December 2025 On Cartoon Network And Cartoonito Across Africa | Channel Premiere: Space Jam - A New Legacy | Returning Shows Including The Powerpuff Girls (1998) | More

Cartoon Network 

Scooby-Doo! And Guess Who? - Premiere

The team is back and just as courageous, adventurous, humorous and obsessed with cases like before. They are joined by celebrities in their adventures and ghost hunts and in search of puzzles to solve.

Looney Tunes Cartoons - Premiere

Looney Tunes Cartoons echoes the high production value and process of the original Looney Tunes theatrical shorts, with a cartoonist-driven approach to storytelling. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and other marquee Looney Tunes characters will be featured in their classic pairings in simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories.

Space Jam: A New Legacy - Premiere

LeBron James and his son, Dom, find themselves trapped in a virtual world. In order to get out, LeBron must team up with the Looney Tunes Squad and defeat an algorithm in a basketball match.

Pokemon's Detective Pikachu 

Tim Goodman travels to Ryme City to settle the affairs of his late father. There, he meets an intelligent talking Pokemon, a Pikachu, and soon teams up with it to solve his father's last case.

Other developments includes two stunts Merry Christmas featuring Tiny Toons Looniversity and Teen Titans GO! alongside Gumball Breakfast. Rebroadcasts of Justice League Action and The Powerpuff Girls (1998) air on the channel.

Cartoonito 

Tom And Jerry Gokko - New Episodes 

Tom, a fussy cat who can't be hated, Jerry, a cute but clever mouse, and Tuffy, a small and cute mouse, all transform into adorable characters, such as their favourite food. Transformation is also new to this series and is attracting a lot of attention.

Batwheels: Heroes Vs. Villains

The Batwheels are back in these epic battles between Gotham's heroes and it's biggest baddies. Strap in for a bumpy ride!

Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown

After visiting a dude ranch, Scooby and his gang get to know about a ghostly cowboy, Dapper Jack, haunting a nearby town. What shocks them more is that Jack is a long lost relative of Shaggy Rogers.

Scooby-Doo! And The Monster Of Mexico

Scooby-Doo and the gang travel to Mexico on vacation. After a horrifying monster begins harassing the local communities, they investigate the matter to find the culprit.

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness 

When Daphne wins a chance to visit space with all her friends, it causes a rift between her and Velma. However, the threat of an alien beckons the team to get into action.

Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy

Scooby Doo and his gang are spending their vacation on a mysterious cruise in the Bermuda Triangle. They then discover that the place is plagued by ghost pirates who are in search of a treasure.

Scooby-Doo! Music Of The Vampire 

While attending a festival in a small town, a disaster awakens Lord Valdronya, a vampire who wreaks havoc on the celebrations. Scooby-Doo and his team must probe the situation to uncover the truth.

Paramount Will Likely Streamline Warner Bros. Discovery If It's Acquisition Is Successful

David Ellison had recently formed Paramount Skydance and is currently in pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery. If it's takeover bid is successful, this would bring Paramount's CBS, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central alongside WBD's CNN, HGTV and Discovery under one umbrella.

Paramount had stated that if their acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is successful both companies would continue operate independently think of DreamWorks Animation and Illumination. Although, no merger plans are underway that doesn't exclude the possibility of reductions.

MTV will be shutting down its music channels by the end of 2025 across the world alongside various other channels. Paramount is undergoing a restructure and wants to align their remaining brands to streaming and Warner Bros. Discovery will follow in this pursuit.

Paramount intends to merge it's 79 million subscribers on Paramount+ with that of 128 million from HBO Max. This would give them 209 million subscribers and their rival Disney+ would fall short at 195 following its merger with Hulu.

Rather than scale back on spending in the event of an acquisition, Paramount wants to increase content spend with its buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery. With over 200 million subscribers, that is very much possible in such a scenario think of Netflix and how much content it offers in a year.

The issues pertaining to the buyout is a difference in narratives if Warner Bros. Discovery had diversity initiatives that is likely to get phased out. Prior to the Paramount takeover, Skydance didn't offer such and never intended to do so same could be awaiting this buyout.

As for creative teams, Paramount wants to continue to keep those separate but it's less likely that the number of employees would remain the same in such a transaction. If there's an underperforming studio, that is most definitely expected to shut down.

Lastly cable networks, as reported Paramount will be closing several channels before the year ends most of which were regional. Warner Bros. Discovery is a company which carries a lot of cable networks mainly from Discovery Inc. with others viewed internationally.

Paramount could opt to retain Discovery Channel, HGTV and Cartoon Network as these brands have global appeal. Perhaps phase out underperforming/niche brands like Travel Channel alongside regional ones like TNT and Real Time.

What remains clear here in Warner Bros. Discovery's pursuit of a potential buyer with Comcast, Netflix and Paramount being eyed. HBO Max could be consolidated under another rival platform and also massive layoffs await whatever is left of the company.

Could Warner Bros. Discovery Be Moving Various Content From Cartoonito To Cartoon Network In Africa?

In March 2023, it was announced that Boomerang would be rebranding to Cartoonito as part of an alignment strategy. At the time, it was stated that all of Boomerang's shows would be retained once the channel switches to Cartoonito this included shows like Mr. Bean and Looney Tunes Cartoons.

Cartoonito is a preschool brand operated by Warner Bros. Discovery that offers fun and entertaining content for kids and their families. This was this structure the company opted to market in some parts of Europe while others tried to align it with Disney Jr. and Nick Jr.

But alas, Mr. Magoo was announced as a new series for Cartoon Network although being made available to Cartoonito when it was still Boomerang. It could imply one of two scenarios first Warner Bros. Discovery blantly lied another could be that their removals part of the long term goals.

This is what happened to Cartoonito in Latin America when it replaced Boomerang so why would Africa be immune to these changes. Warner Bros. Discovery had a goal and that was to get Boomerang viewers to latch onto Cartoonito to avoid further alienation.

Warner Bros. Discovery in Africa had stated the decision to transform Boomerang into Cartoonito was part of an "alignment strategy". The reality is in most markets Cartoonito is basically another Nick Jr. or Cbeebies with gaps in-between for other content.

Cartoon Network has been getting various content Warner Bros. Discovery marketed for Boomerang like Tiny Toons Looniversity and soon Scooby-Doo And Guess Who?. Even Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated that went to Boomerang after its run has resurfaced on the network.

What happened to Cartoonito retaining all of Boomerang's IPs are these set to become an afterthought?

Cartoon Network will be airing Space Jam: A New Legacy in December and it wouldn't surprise me if it led to the addition of Looney Tunes Cartoons. Some consumers had stated that these shows were too mature for a preschool brand and Warner Bros. Discovery let this subside for almost two years.

They led some people to believe that Cartoonito was Boomerang's equivalent within Africa yet you have all this content on Cartoon Network. In the UK, most of this content including Tiny Toons Looniversity is being distributed on Boomerang.

On the upside, I don't think most consumers would have noticed or cared as much if these shows were to suddenly disappear from Cartoonito. They have prioritised on other shows like Zig & Sharko, Batwheels and Cocomelon it could've been a lot worser had this been done two years earlier. 

If anything this change does add more confusion and mystery, Boomerang had prioritized on reruns for their own shows. Seeing as it's no longer Boomerang how much of that would be distributed on Cartoonito because so far it seems like the stars could be aligning with Cartoon Network.