It’s about girls, but it’s not only for girls. In fact, the new e.tv series, 4Play: sex tips for girls is for anyone who loves television that depicts modern-day lifestyles in a hard-hitting, highly entertaining and decidedly adult way.

4Play: sex tips for girls is a drama series following the lives of four thirty-something Johannesburg professional women as they negotiate sex; love; and relationships in a contemporary; honest; and often funny way. The series has brought together some of South Africa’s most talented writers; directors; actors; and technicians, who are mainly women.

It focuses on the hair and beauty salon of single mother and entrepreneur, Noma, and her loquacious girlfriends, Nox; Danny; and Amira. Each of the women has her own unique approach to love; sex; and surviving in the city.

The series stars Portia Gumede as Noma (the hairdresser); Kgomotso Christopher as Nox (the black diamond); Mbali Maphumulo as Amira (the dreamer); and Tiffany Jones as Danny (the outsider). They are brought together at Noma’s hair salon, where their lives and relationships are laid bare as the series unfolds.

For e.tv, 4Play: sex tips for girls represents a golden opportunity to screen a series that is not only highly entertaining, but also propagates a very serious message about responsible lifestyles among young South Africans.

The choice of thirty-something female characters is deliberate, as South African women aged 19 to 29 are most at risk of contracting HIV. But they are not the only target audience; it is hoped that men will also be drawn in by the series’ saucy nature, and in the process learn more responsible behaviours.

The series was written and produced by Johannesburg-based Curious Pictures, for Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), an NGO affiliated to the prestigious Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, which has been active in HIV and AIDS programs in South Africa since 1999, funded by USAID PEPFAR.

It is not the first time that JHHESA and Curious Pictures have collaborated on an entertainment series with a serious underlying message: they also produced TshaTsha, an award-winning SABC1 series for young adults that is currently being screened in Mozambique, as part of that country’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Says Curious Pictures’ Harriet Gavshon, the series’ Executive Producer: “It is important to try something new with regard to talking to people about HIV and AIDS. 4Play: sex tips for girls is a completely new approach. It deals with and celebrates women’s sexuality. It is sassy; sexy; glossy; and funny. It will make you laugh as much as it will make you cry.”

“We looked at the issues and asked ourselves, 'what hasn’t been done?' And then we set out to do it. We brought together an entire team of women writers and women directors – and then said: ‘Let’s have fun; let’s talk about ourselves; and let’s push the envelope.’ Women are often represented as victims – and our series has a fair share of that, but they are also sensual, sexual and active in their own sexual narratives.”

According to producer, Mariki van der Walt, of Curious Pictures, not only is the show unlike anything South African viewers have seen before – the research for 4Play: sex tips for girls was out of the box, too.

“The research process was unusual. Instead of focus groups, we held pamper parties and brought together groups of women for manicures and pedicures. Then we brought in groups of men for massages – and, of course, lots of personal anecdotes.

Through this process we were able to create an intimate space for people to tell their stories. These formed the basis of our storymaking.”

JHHESA Managing Director, Patrick Coleman, who has more than 30 years of experience in development communication, believes implicitly that entertainment offers great opportunities to spread serious messages – but, he says, 4Play: sex tips for girls is not 'edutainment'.

“I call it entertainment education, because it’s entertainment first,” says Coleman, who says the show’s titillating nature is intended to draw both female and male viewers – and they will be in for a tasteful, adult experience.

“It’s risqué and ribald, without being vulgar. This is a risk-taking series. It’s more out there (than other comparable series), and intentionally so,” says Coleman.

The series features three directors, including lead director, Amanda Lane, as well as colleagues, Robyn Aronstam and Catherine Cooke.

Lane sums up 4Play: sex tips for girls succinctly (and appropriately) thus: “4Play is like a perfect handbag: stylish and sexy on the outside, but with a deep and secret centre.”

4Play: sex tips for girls will be broadcast on e.tv at 21:00 on Tuesday nights, from 2 February 2010.