Egyptian Series That Grossly Plagiarised Foreign Works

Over the years, a number of Egyptian TV series have drawing inspiration from foreign productions. The degree of plagiarism within these works considerably varies. Some works are just based on an idea, others could be compared scene to scene.

Whichever the case, it goes without saying that adapting a foreign series to the Arab World’s audience requires creators to restructure almost every detail of the production, but still, a lot of these end up being paraded on social media for lacking originality.

The criticism always stems from the fact that many viewers are certain that our region is rich in both ideas as well as talents. Here, we should create a distinction between inspiration and blatant plagiarism. The latter is almost always criticized because we could do better and we have proven it time and time again.

Love or hate them, here is our pick of the most recent series that ripped off their stories.

Rubi

Based on a Mexican drama with the same name, 2012’s Rubi, starring Sherine Abdelnour, is one of the first productions to blatantly rip off an already popular foreign work.

It’s not just the name as the plot follows the original work along the same lines. Both works feature an ambitious female protagonist who starts from nothing and achieves her goals through unorthodox means.

Grand Hotel

From elegant outfits to breathtaking locations, the critically-acclaimed series Grand Hotel (2018) gained popularity with the Arab viewer, becoming one of the best, if not the best show of that year’s Ramadan.

What many do not know is that the creators admitted that the show was inspired by a Spanish drama of the same name, Gran Hotel.

Heba Regl Al-Ghorab

Based on the American hit series Ugly Betty, Heba Regl Al-Ghorab follows Heba as she tries to find a place in the world of fashion. The series stars Emy Samir Ghanem in the first two seasons and Nahed Al-Seba’e in the last two.

Al-Arrab and Al-Ab Al-Rohie

Both series, the Syrian-Lebanese Al-Arrab and the Egyptian Al-Ab Al-Rohie, are based for the most part on The Godfather trilogy. The Egyptian series stars Mahmoud Hemida, Ahmed Abdelaziz, and Sawsan Badr, while the Syrian-Lebanese counterpart stars Singer Assie Al-Helani.

The two versions were heavily criticized on social media for sticking way too much to the source material and failing to adapt the scenario to an Arab audience.

Chello

Chello tells the story of struggling musicians Yasmine and her husband Adam, whose lives changes forever when Taimour, a renowned businessman comes to them with an unusual offe.

Well, if you feel that you’ve heard of this somewhere before that’s because the plot is largely based on the Hollywood 1993 film Indecent Proposal.

Zay El Shams

Zay El Shams was one of this year’s most-watched Ramadan series. Many tuned in for every day of the holy month to link the clues. It got to the point where many fans started making theories about the ending. In fact, if it wasn’t for the vague ending, this show could have been easily picked as the best of Ramadan 2019.

Many do not know that the creators said it was based on the Italian series Sorelle.

Weld Al-Ghalaba

Perhaps the most controversial of them all is Weld Al-Ghalaba starring Ahmed Al-Saqqah. The series has garnered local as well as international criticism for plagiarizing AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad, with whole scenes directly ripped off from the latter.

The creator of the show Ayman Salamah took to social media to state that the show was not based on Breaking Bad, and that the AMC series itself was based on the Egyptian classic Al-Keif, which is, to put it mildly, an absurd statement.

WE SAID THIS: Did you like this list? Make sure to also check out our list of Hollywood-inspired Egyptian films as well!