Throwbacks

Uganda had one TV station until the early 1990s: UTV, now UBC. That’s Life Mwattu was one of the first local dramas to win the whole country. Sanyu TV arrived in 1994, WBS at the end of 1998, and NTV in 2006, which drove the drama wave of Tendo Sisters, The Hostel and Deception.

Watching on YouTube? Many uploads aren’t from the original makers. Where an official channel exists, we say so on the show’s page.

Bakayimbira Dramactors grew out of the Kampala Drama Actors in the 1980s, with Andrew Benon Kibuuka among its leaders. He received the Uganda Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. For 26 years the group played at Pride Theatre, until rising rent pushed it out in 2007. Its best-known stage play, Ndiwulira, took on the HIV crisis in 1991. Several of its dramas are now free on its YouTube channel.