For years, the Ramadan drama season has been associated with names like Adel Imam, Salah Al-Saadani, Yehia Al-Fakharani, Nour Al-Sherif, Youssra, Elham Shahine and Laila Elwi. Those stars were a regular feature of the Ramadan screen until recently, when the landscape altered to bring in a new set of figures: Dina Al-Sherbini, Menna Shalabi, Ahmed Malek, Reham Abdel-Ghaffour, Asser Yassin, Eyad Nassar, Essam Omar and Salma Abu-Deif. This new generation gave TV drama the kiss of life alongside new generations of screenwriters and directors responded to shifting social realities and new ideas, forging new forms of drama, comedy and black comedy.
In recent years most series are 15 episodes, making room for a new set of shows in the second half of the month, and this year the second set is clearly an improvement on the first. They tackle controversial issues such as visitation rights in Abb Walaken (A Father, But), starring Mohamed Farrag and Hagar Ahmed, created by Yasmine Ahmed Kamel — creator of the 2024 hit A’la Nesbet Moshahda (Highest Views), which starred Salma Abu-Deif — and human organ trafficking in Aard wa Talab (Supply and Demand), starring Salma Abu-Deif, Samah Anwar and Ali Sobhi, about a teacher who needs a kidney donor.
One of the most successful TV series in this season is Hekayet Narges (The Tale of Narges). Inspired by a true story, it tackles the issue of adoption, and features the talented actress Riham Abdel-Ghaffour in the title role. Narges is a woman in her thirties who hails from a modest background with a family that is struggling to make ends meet, and she faces huge social pressure following being divorced due to her infertility. Narges, however, contests the fact that she is infertile, throwing suspicions on the pregnancy of her ex-husband’s new wife and demonstrating she can have children with childhood sweetheart and neighbour Awni (Hamza Al-Eily). This results in a tragic journey of lies and crimes. Hekayet Narges is written by Ammar Sabri — who did last year’s Bedoun Sabeq Inzar (Without Prior Notice) and this year’s Sohab Al-Ard (The Indigenous) — and directed by Sameh Alaa. Each year a new acting talent is discovered: Gihan Al-Shamashergy last year, and Hamza Al-Eily, playing Awni in Hekayet Narges this year.
Even in the comedy department, social problems prevail in shows such as Al-Metre Samir (Samir, the Attorney), starring Karim Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz as a divorce lawyer whose wife Mervat (Nahed Al-Sebaei) now wants a divorce. With a sound screenplay by Farouk Hashim and Mamdouh Metwally, supervised by Mustafa Omar, it is directed by Khaled Marei. Another comedy, Mama wi Baba Geran (Mom and Dad are Neighbours), directed by Mahmoud Karim, takes place across two apartments facing each other where Hisham (Ahmed Dawoud) lives opposite his ex-wife Nora (Merna Gamal). Hisham is a pharmacist seeking the stability of his family who nonetheless let his mother intervene which eventually leads to his divorce, and Nora’s mother’s house, where she moves, happens to be just opposite her own. Nora leaves all domestic and childrearing responsibilities to Hisham to follow her dream to become a singer.
As an investment in the success of last year’s Al-Noss, this year its sequel comes under the name Al-Noss Al-Tani (literally “The Second Half”), starring Ahmed Amin and Asmaa Abul-Yazid and directed by Hossam Ali. Set in 1940s in Cairo during the World War II, where Abdel-Aziz Al-Noss lives under a false identity to protect his son, trapped in a web of espionage between the British and the Germans.
All in all, last year’s drama season feels more powerful with a huge number of powerful TV series like Welad Al-Shams (Sons of the Sun), with a screenplay by the talented screenwriter Mohab Tarek, who also wrote Ekhwati (My Sisters), another hit. Directed by Shadi Abdel-Salam, who brilliantly leads the performance of actors like the renowned Mahmoud Hemeida and the younger Ahmed Malek, Taha Al-Dessouki, Farah Youssef and Jala Hisham. The topic too — orphanages and corruption — was entirely new. A powerful comedy show from last year was Ashghal Shaqa Geddan (House Duties II), created by Khaled Diab and starring Hisham Maged, Mustafa Gharib and Asmaa Galal, following the same couple as they struggle to find a housekeeper.
Worth mentioning in the context of last Ramadan is Dina Al-Sherbini, who stars in this year’s Etnen Gherna (Two Other People) — reviewed last week — who has come a long way since she first made an impression in Grand Hotel (2016), directed by Mohamed Shakir Khodeir with a screenplay by Tamer Habib. A few months before Ramadan, she starred in La Turad wala Tustabdal (No Return or Exchange), directed by Mariam Abu-Ouf and written by Dina Negm and Samar Abdel-Nasser, which deals with the challenge of kidney failure. Her spontaneous performance, subtly conveying deep emotions, earned her a special place in the hearts of the audience which she lives up to this season.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 12 March, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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