When Checkmate started, there was no Nollywood

Long before Nollywood became a global brand, Bob-Manuel Udokwu says the landscape was very different.

In his conversation with Chude Jideonwo monitored by MyNewsGh, the actor recalled a time when television in Nigeria revolved around a single station.

“It was only NTA. There was no DSTV, no other channels,” he said. “The whole Nigeria watched one station.”

He spoke fondly of the series Checkmate, which aired in that era. “When Checkmate started, there was no Nollywood,” he explained. “Thursday 8pm, the streets of Lagos would be deserted.”

That visibility, he said, helped shape his career before the video film boom. He later became part of Living in Bondage, widely regarded as a foundation of modern Nollywood.

“I was lucky to be part of Nollywood at the beginning,” he said, adding that the journey from television drama to structured film production marked a shift in the industry’s identity.

Looking at today’s digital age, he smiled at how much has changed. “Now television has gone to the phone.

“You can watch anything from anywhere,” he said. “Back then, everything was centred.”