Something that is well known in any creative industry is that creative ideas bounce off each other, and no idea is truly 100% original.

So naturally when conducting a creative work, you find yourself automatically being inspired by other ideas or works.

However, there is a fine line between being creative and intellectual stealing. But sadly, not everyone seems to respect that line. And one series that really crossed that line this Ramadan is “Hekayty” starring the young star Yasmine Sabry.

Hekayty’s Story and Poster

Before Ramadan even started, when we saw the poster ad for the Ramadan series “Hekayty”, we knew it felt very familiar. It wasn’t long until we remembered that it was basically a replica of a French documentary released in 2014 called “Dior & I”.

After the series began with the start of Ramadan, people looked past the poster thing, because at the end of the day, it is the creative content of the show that really mattered.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until it has been revealed that even that is not original.

Recently, author Noor Abdel Mageed stated in a Facebook statement that the story of the series Hekayty is stolen from her novel “Lascala”. Only the names of the characters and few details have been changed but the story-line and events are exactly the same.

She expressed her utmost disappointment and anger, and stated that she will be suing the creators of the show for intellectual robbery.

Though Hekayty might be the only series this Ramadan -that we know of- that completely crossed the line between being inspired and replicating, some other shows were pretty much around that line, though didn’t cross it.

While watching this season’s series marathon, we couldn’t help but notice the inspiration drawn from previously-made series and shows.

Not saying they were imitating or replicating already-made content, but there were some striking similarities. And here are the ones we noticed:

1. Zay El Shams – Sisters

The Ramadan hit series Zay El Shams has got everyone talking about its intriguing story-line and thrilling events.

And after going through the story, people started picking up a lot of striking similarities between Zay El Shams and the Italian thriller show Sisters or “Sorelle”.

From the story-line, to the details of the characters and timeline of the events; the two shows felt like two faces to the same coin.

Which, naturally, made people wonder if the endings too are going to be similar. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

And of course there is the dramatic Facebook war that’s been going on between the show’s previous Director Kamla Abu Zakri and current one Sameh Abdel Aziz over the intellectual ownership of some of the show’s directorial work.

Which, needless to say did not really help with all the intellectual authenticity speculations around the show.

2. Mamlaket El Ghagar – Samra

Something that probably all of us noticed about the new Ramadan series Mamlaket El Ghagar is that the setting was a bit different than what we -Egyptians- are used to seeing on Egyptian TV or even streets. Seeing how it is about gypsies and we don’t have any in Egypt.

The reason is that the show revolves around a community of gypsies and their leader, played by Fifi Abdo. Which happens to be astonishingly similar to the Lebanese series Samra.

Even the locations and settings of the scenes are extremely similar to those of Samra which happens to take place in Lebanon, but are nowhere to be found around here in Cairo.

3. Weld El Ghalab – Breaking Bad

While these two shows wouldn’t necessarily scream twins, Breaking Bad fans couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the main characters in the two shows, Eisa El Ghanem and Walter White.

They are both originally high school teachers then -due to circumstances- headed a different direction which is dealing drugs. Then ended up being full on criminals and killing a bunch of people.

Of course the plot and events of the two shows are completely different but when it came to Eisa in Weld El Ghalaba, we couldn’t help but get some serious Walter White vibes.

4. Kabeil – Mr. Robot

While watching and getting our minds teased by the new Ramadan thriller Kabeel, we noticed some striking visual details and characteristics that strongly reminded us of another thriller series, Mr. Robot.

While the story itself is quite different, the similarities in the cinematography of the two, from the angles of which the scenes were shot, the effects of the footage itself, and several scenes’ settings were pretty undeniable.

Even the tics and little details of Sama’s character and the way she talks immediately reminded us of Darline’s character in Mr. Robot.

These are the shows that rang a bell and felt a bit too familiar to us, but there could always be more.

So if there are other series you’re watching this year that reminded you of previous shows, tell us about them in the comments.