Betoch

Betoch (Amharic: ቤቶች; [bé to chə]; English: Houses) is an Ethiopian television family sitcom starring Tilahun Gugsa airs on EBC (formerly ETV) since 2013. The series airs every Saturday and focuses on a middle class family living in Addis Ababa.[1]

Betoch
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Tilahun Gugsa
Starring	Tilahun Gugsa Seble Tefera (Seasons 1-3) Gelila Raesom Nitsu Haile Maekda Haile Fikadu Fasil Ashenafi Mehalet Melat Tesfaye Nibret Gelaw
Theme music composer	Tilahun Gugsa Productions
Opening theme	"Betoch" voiced by Tilahun Gugsa
Country of origin	Ethiopia
Original language(s)	Amharic
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	240
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tilahun Gugsa
Production location(s)	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Camera setup	Videotape, multi-camera
Running time	25-30 minutes
Production company(s)	Tilahun Gugsa Productions
Release
Original network	EBC
Picture format	480i (Season 1-5) 1080i (Season 5-present)
Original release	February 2013 – present

It gained wide popularity among the broader Ethiopian public as it was the first sitcom ever aired in the country.[2]

Premise

Character Zeru (Tilahun Gugsa), is a patriarch who manages his whole family from financial problems and crisis, trying to make his family in appropriate situatioan that is necessary to their life. His wife Azalu (Makda Haile) have a knowledge about law, treating her children in fair way. They live with their four children Meraf (Gelila Raesom), Bezabe (Fikadu Fasil), Erestae (Melat Tesfaye), and Yebekal (Ashenafi Mehalet). Although the series contains comedic in nature, it does touch on serious subjects from time to time, such as corruption.[3]

Casts and characters

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Tilahun Gugsa	Zeru	Main
Makda Haile	Azalech	Main
Gelila Raesom	Meraf	Main
Ashenafi Mehalet	Yebekal	Main
Fikadu Fasil	Bezabe	Main
Melat Tesfaye	Erestae	Main
Nitsu Haile	Shashe	Main
Nibret Gelaw	Eke	Main
Seble Tefera*	Tirfe	Main					No Appearance
Assefa Tegegn	Basha	Recurring
Bisrat Gebretsadek	Na	No Appearance						Main

Death of Seble Tefera

Seble Tefera
Born	(1976-08-24)24 August 1976 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Died	12 September 2015(2015-09-12) (aged 39) Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Cause of death	Blood loss due to single-vehicle crash
Occupation	Actress comedian
Notable work	Yarefede Arada Betoch

Seble Tefera, who was known for playing the role of "Terfe" was killed by car crash while she was travelling to Bahir Dar with her husband. The two were listening radio aloud and caused distracion out of their attention. Her husband who was driving the car spontaneously crashed into a stationed truck in an area commonly known as Saris.[4] Seble was pronounced dead on arrival in local hospital as she transferred by paramedics and her cause of death is blood loss and acute head trauma induced by bluntant impact in her brain, her cremanioum took a place in Holy Trinity Cathedral, with notable people and relative presented. Betoch suspended its broadcast to a month and showed snippets of her performances in the series as the cast members mourned.

References

1. Kassa, Lucy (Sep 21, 2015). "The Highest Price of Life on the Road". Addis Fortune.
2. Mulat, Addisalem (6 March 2016). "Ethiopia: 'The Ethiopian Film Industry Is Still Crawling,' Artist Tilahun Gugsa". All Africa.
3. Mulat, Addisalem (August 1, 2017). "Actress Stepping Up the Ladder of Success". All Africa.
4. "Artist Seble Tefera Laid to Rest". www.durame.com. Retrieved 2018-09-02.