Skeem Saam's Lelo had her baby in prison last week and the emotional scenes have a lot more to them than meets the eye on TV.
The cast went through an emotional time behind-the-scenes because they had to deal with a tragedy surrounding the baby who was originally cast in the role.
Baby Linda Shabalala was cast in the role but she fell ill and died, which meant that the show had to recast the role while dealing with her death.
Linda only filmed one shot - the very first shot that we saw of Lelo's baby. Babies only film for a short time so the show filmed the shot and it turned out to be the last time that they saw her.
When the production heard about her death they recast the role with Baby Mbalenhle Tabu and asked Linda's parents what their wishes were. Did they want Linda's shot to be refilmed or did they want to keep her scene? They chose to keep the scene and therefore we got to see her.
It all highlights another
life truth from Skeem Saam... life is short people - so much shorter for some than for others - let's appreciate and enjoy it!
RIP Baby Linda.