Alex Jay shares memorable moments as the voice of 'Top Billing'

For over two decades, South Africa has enjoyed seeing where the stars live and witnessing some of the biggest wedding celebrations in Mzanzi.

Ordinary South Africans got a taste of the good life - travel, decor, design and enjoyed interviews with some of the biggest stars in the country.  

READ ALSO: Say what? 'Top Billing' cancelled after 23 years

 The show gave exposure to A-list presenters such as Jeannie D, Tumisho Masha, Michelle Garforth, Janez Vermeiren, Lorna Maseko and the late Simba Mhere, just to name a few.  

Sadly, the much-loved show is coming to an end after airing for 25 years. 

“Top Billing has been one of SABC 3’s flagship programmes for over two decades. It has been a legacy title and from its introduction and within the first decade of its lifespan, set the benchmark for lifestyle magazine programming. Through it, the SABC pioneered entertainment television in South Africa in the early stages of our democracy and consciously put a different face and perspective to the South African narrative and perception,” said David Makubyane, Acting Group Executive: Television.

The Voice

Top Billing voice-over artists for nearly 15 years, Alex Jay says: “ It was great to be involved in helping to celebrate the SA good life.”

He recalls how he enjoyed spending “ hours in the voice booth, poring over a thesaurus, looking for synonyms for "contemporary" and the like before voicing the script "in an accent that won't scare the grown-ups". 

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Alex says he is sad to see a good show come to an end. "Sad in the extreme that the beleaguered SABC is canning the show because of "untenable production costs." (Surely your ad-sales folks could've tried harder?)Sad to see the national broadcaster struggling to survive. Sad to see a great show being shown the door. "

However, he is grateful to have been part of this phenomenal show. "So long, Top Billing and thank you,” he said.  

Basetsana Khumalo also expressed sadness that the show is coming to an end. 

The final episode will air on Saturday, 19 October 2019 at 18h30 on SABC 3. The viewers can enjoy repeats of special episodes of the show until March 2020. 

We join in with South Africans who took to Twitter to share how disappointed they are that the show is coming to an end.