Every Ramadan, a slew of new Arabic shows begin — whether series that have been on for five years, or fresh contenders. We look at this year’s titles, from the eerie — a group of actors finding out the play they’re reading for contains their biggest secrets — to the eerily familiar... yes, we’re talking about Baba Al Hara 8. Below are this month’s biggest TV shows. (Most timings were not available at time of writing.)
MBC 1
Harat Al Shaikh
Starring: Mohammad Bakhsh, Khalid Al Harbi and Abdul Mohsen Al Nimr
Set in a fictional neighbourhood in old Jeddah during the Ottoman period, the show tells the story of two brothers — one good, and one evil. It stars over 60 actors from Saudi Arabia and the GCC.
Mamoon Wa Shoraka’o
Starring: Adel Imam, Lebleba, Mustafa Fahmi, Shirin, Khalid Salim, Tamer Hajras and Mohammad Lotfi
Mamoon is an extremely stingy man who puts his family through tough, if comical, situations. One day, he realises that the penny-pinching consuming him is the real reason his family has suffered. Will he find it in himself to change?
Mamoon Wa Shoraka’o stars Adel Imam, Khaled Salim and Lebleba.
Al Damaa Al Hamra’a (also on Sharjah TV)
Starring: Turki Al Yousuf, Ola Al Faris, Abdul Mohsen Al Nimr, Abeer Eissa
Based on the poems of Prince Mohammad bin Ahmad Al Sudairy, the show tells the story of a love that exceeds fantasy and a loyalty that surpasses death, set in Bedouin times.
Ola Fares and Turki Al Youssef in MBC's Al Damaa Al Hamraa.
Bab Al Hara 8
Starring: Abbas Al Nouri, Sabah Al Jazari, Mustafa Al Khani, Milad Yousuf, Abd Al Hadi Sabagh, Soulaf Fawakharji, Shokran Mortaja, Laila Samour, Haitham Jabar
The latest part of the popular series, Bab Al Hara 8, deals with religious extremism on one side and a secular pseudo-preacher on the other, who’s trying to wipe out traditions, culture and customs.
Bab Al Hara 8, with Abbas Al Nouri, airs on MBC.
Samarkand
Starring: Abed Fahed, Yousuf Al Khal, Maisa Maghrabi, Amal Boshosha
A historical drama told from a modern point of view, covering topics of sultans and concubines and weaving in little-known facts from bygone days.
Abed Fahed in Samarkand.
MBC Drama
Nos Yom
Starring: Taim Hassan, Nadine Njaim, Salim Sabri, Fadi Abu Samra
Detective Mayar is driven to seek revenge against his thieving, cheating wife, Maisa, but his love for her commands him.
Younnes Walad Fida
Starring: Amro Sa’ad, Susan Badr, Abdul Aziz Makhyoun, Sahar Al Sayegh, Ehab Fahmi, Reham Hajaj, Mohammad Al Taji
A story of the Sai’di people and their evolution in today’s world, told from a fresh perspective.
Younnes Walad Fida
Afrah Al Qibba
Starring: Mona Zaki, Jamal Sulaiman, Saba Mubarak, Susan Badr, Iyad Nasser, Ahmad Salah Al Sa’adani
Taken from a story by the popular author Najeeb Mahfouth, this series revolves around a theatrical group during the ’70s. During a read-through of a new screenplay, the actors discover that the play revolves around their real lives and contains their deepest secrets.
Jude
Starring: Huda Hussain, Abdul Mohsen Al Nimr, Salah Al Mulla, Hind Al Beloushi, Hiba Al Dirri
Violence against women is explored in this show through Jude, her three sisters, and their dictator of a father. When he marries a new woman, he appears weak and pitiful in front of her and her son, which goes against everything his daughters know about him.
Waad Al Gharib
Starring: Yasser Al Masri, Qamar Khalaf, Abeer Eissa, Nabil Al Mshini, Huda Hamdan
This Bedouin series deals with English orientalist Robert Newman and his relationship with the Arabian Desert.
OSN Ya Hala HD
Baya’et Al Nakhi
Starring: Hayat Al Fahad
A woman leaves her husband and children to marry the love of her life after years of separation, only for him to marry another woman when she’s unable to bear children. She finds herself selling legumes on the street.
Madrasat Al Hob 2
Starring: Kazim Al Saher, Mona Wassef, Ward Al Khal, Marah Jabar, Fadi Ebrahim, Pamela Al Keek, Abd Al Monam Amayri
The romance series, titled “school of love”, deals with themes of love in all its forms — whether it’s the love of country, cause, man or child.
Al Khanka
Starring: Ghada Abul Razik
After being sexually harassed by men throughout her adult life, a woman decides to defend herself, and finds herself in the middle of an accidental murder. The only way to prove her innocence in this man’s world is to claim mental illness and take a stand against a male-driven inferiority complex.
Al Khanka, starring Ghada Abul Razak.
Al Mizan
Starring: Ghada Adel
The story revolves around a young attorney who has never lost a case, and her investigator husband. She takes on the case of a famous businessman accused of murdering his wife, an up-and-coming actress.
Zee Aflam (all shows dubbed in Arabic)
Razia Sultan
A historical drama about Razia Sultan, the first and only woman to have ruled Delhi’s Mamluk dynasty.
Zee Aflam's Razia Sultan
Jodha Akbar 4
A period drama set in the 16th century, where a political union turned into real love between the characters Jodha and Akbar, affecting the country.
Jodha Akbar 4
Qubool 3
A story of revenge, suspense, deceit, secrets and love between Sanam and Aahil.
Abu Dhabi TV
Khiyanat Watan
Starring: Jassim Al Nahyan, Haifa Hussein, Samira Ahmad, Habib Ghaloum
The story of Raitaj, who takes care of her ailing father and helps him overcome adversity, only to find herself in a spiral of love and clandestine organising.
Al Arrab 2
Starring: Basim Yakhour, Basil Khayat, Amal Boushousha, Daima Al Jundi, Maher Salibi
After the murder of their father, Kaiser and Jad try to keep his legacy in the marketplace alive, though they have a different style of doing things.
Al Tawareed
Starring: Mohammad Hadaqi, Ahmad Al Ahmad, Nisrin Tafish, Marah Jabar, Aymen Rida, Rawa Yasin, Fadi Sabih
Khalaf and Mhawesh compete for the love of Shaikh Taroud’s daughter — and her hand in marriage. She announces that she will only marry someone who can defeat her in battle in front of everyone.
Saba’a Arwah
Starring: Iyad Nassar, Khalid Al Nabawi, Rania Yousuf, Walid Fawaz, Nabil Eissa, Hamza Al Ali, Firas Saeed
An ex-police officer tries to solve the mysterious death of a businessman who was accused of cheating his lover, only for the two to reappear in his life and make him delirious as he discovers the secret of spirits that die and return.
Grand Hotel
Starring: Omar Yousuf, Yasmin Sabri, Susan Badir, Dina Al Sherbini, Mohammad Mamdouh, Ahmad Dawoud
Set in the 1950s, the show takes place in the Grand Hotel, exploring a microcosm of people from different levels in Egpytian society, their secrets and stories.
Sharjah TV
Lakait Rohi
Starring: Sa’ad Al Faraj, Naif Al Rashid, Shaila Sabt, Fatima Abdul Rahim, Abdul Imam Abdul Allah.
Twins Bandar and Badr were separated at birth, one living with his uncle in Saudi Arabia, and one staying in Kuwait. When Bandar’s uncle dies, Bandar, now aged 30, returns to Saudi to begin a new life with his family.
Layali Al Hilmiya 6
Starring: Ilham Shahin, Hisham Salim, Lucy, Mohammad Riyadh, Maisa Maghrabi
Set in 2005, 10 years after the fifth part, this series explores the historical events over a decade in Egypt and the Arab world.
Saq Al Bamboo (also on MBC Drama)
Starring: Suad Abdallah, Fatima Al Safi, Hind Al Beloushi, Faisal Al Amairi, Abdul Muhsin Al Nimr
The son of a Kuwaiti family marries his family’s maid, who is from the Philippines, in secret, and has a son with her. The wife and son are shunned. The son, Eissa, who grew up in Manila, returns to Kuwait as an adult and tries to adjust to his new life.
