The fourth season of Iċ-Ċaqqufa, considered Malta’s most-watched drama series, will air exclusively on Tokis on GO TV from December 19.

Created by Pierre Portelli and produced by Watermelon Media, the series ran for three consecutive seasons between 2013 and 2016, airing 117 episodes. The backbone of the series is the battle for recognition of what was once discredited as the ‘weaker’ gender in Maltese society.

The first three seasons followed the story of the protagonist Rose from her birth throughout her adolescence and early youth, with viewers watching her turn into a fine woman, empowered by her beauty and intelligence.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Portelli says the series always had a distinct storyline that exposed the social fabric and the challenges faced by the Maltese.

While the initial three seasons dealt with Malta’s past, this upcoming fourth season seeks to give a view of a fictional Maltese society in the immediate future where liberal values are well in place and civil liberties are unencumbered.

“The series dealt with homosexuality in the 1950s, gender inequality throughout the 1960s and 1970s and misogyny that transcended throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The new fourth season deals head-on with other pressing social issues that are simmering on the national agenda,” says the author. 

The story kickstarts in 2021 and continues through 2022. In this landscape, Malta’s prime minister is a woman married to a woman, with Portelli saying he imposed this challenge in response to the lip service given to gender equality in politics.

In the Ċaqqufa universe, Malta has legalised most civil liberties, such as euthanasia, surrogacy and abortion, after an astounding (fictional) political turn of events whereby a new government was formed after enough members of parliament from PL and PN abandoned their parties to form a new liberal formation bearing the name ‘UNITY’.

“This is yet another challenge to the status quo by which third parties cannot really make it to parliament under the current system, let alone govern, but should enough MPs from both sides form a coalition, that new party may become the new tenant in Castille,” he says. 

Portelli describes how society has become very anxious towards the two-party system with data showing that people who want a change are increasing yearly. With the series, he says he is trying to give a view of how society could be once these thresholds are surpassed.

In the ‘Ċaqqufa’ universe, Malta has legalised most civil liberties, such as euthanasia, surrogacy and abortion

“The underlying theme is whether we’re prepared for what we wish for,” says Portelli.

“This is a fictional twist because the events haven’t happened yet, but this doesn’t exclude the possibility that this is what can happen in the years to come.”

A focus on mental health

Season four will deal most prominently with the ever-growing mental health issues rising in Maltese society.

The author intends to do this by drawing a line from what happened to Rose in 2005 when her brother-in-law raped her (later convicted of the crime) to the mental state of the product of that rape.

“In season two, at the age of 11, Michael, Rose’s son who resulted from the rape, found out he was conceived out of anger and violence. He was also lied to, led to believe that Rose wanted to abort him,” says Portelli.

A scene from 2014 in which Rose is seen carrying a coffin. After this aired, the author says several women began asking funeral directors to do the same.

“Then, instead of taking charge, while she was busy running a business empire, Rose placed him in a London college to keep him away from his father’s family and protect him from social exclusion. Instead, he simmered into a very anxious and disturbed young man who couldn’t contain his anger when he reached adulthood.”

The author says the political class in Malta has been treating mental health in a very superficial manner, which led him to portray a (not so) fictional possibility whereby private mental health institutions begin to sprout across the country – a side effect of a political class that gave up on solving socially challenging issues, he says.

“This poses the question of whether going for full-blown private enterprise in the mental health sector is good or bad.

“What could happen if society made these choices? Will we experience the same gold-rush mentality where greed precedes care? Will such institutions become the new slot machines after the 1990s boom in old people’s homes and the Steward fiasco?” posits Portelli.

The author says this fourth season of the social-drama series is intended to expose the harsh reality most people want to ignore.

“Choices have consequences, be they individual or collective,” he says. “When shortcuts are taken, things rarely end up well.”

While the series’ scope is to entertain through dramatised relationships and real-life situations, the underlying tone is one of defiance towards a society that refuses to look ahead and think before it leaps.

“From a simple Facebook post to major political decisions, we are an impulsive nation too proud to admit our screw-ups,” he concludes. 

Watch the premiere of Iċ-Ċaqqufa season four on December 19 at 8.40pm on Tokis. For more information, visit here.