| Alt Name: | İkinci Bahar |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Starring: | Şener Şen Türkan Şoray Tarık Pabuççuoğlu Many others |
| Theme Music Composer: | Vedat Sakman |
| Country: | Turkey |
| Num Seasons: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 37 |
| Producer: | Directed by Uğur Yücel Orhan Oğuz Türkan Derya |
| Company: | Most Production |
| Network: | ATV and Kanal 6 |
Second Spring (Turkish: İkinci Bahar) is a Turkish television series, broadcast between 1998 and 2001 by ATV. It had record-breaking Turkish Tv series for that time. First 8 episodes appeared between 29 October 1998 – 20 May 1999 (with some reruns). The next 15 episodes were between 17 February-25 May 2000 and the last 14 episodes were between 21 September 2000 – 11 January 2001. There were also reruns; in 2007 by Fox TV and in 2011-2012 by Star TV.[1]
In Turkish, the phrase "Second Spring" refers to middle age romance. The main characters in the series, Ali Haydar and Hanım as well as the main antagonists Vakkas and Neriman are middle age characters. But there are young characters too. For example, Ali Haydar has three daughters, Hanım has a daughter and a son.
The scene is a market place in Samatya neighbourhood of Istanbul. There are a number of stories interrelated to each other. Ali Haydar, a widower, is a kebap restaurant owner. (Kebap is grilled meat) Hanım, also a widow, is his female meze cook (Meze is a group of small dishes served during the meal). Ali Haydar soon falls in love with Hanım. But the situation is complicated, because his landlady Neriman an ex-actress whom Ali Haydar is in dept, too wants to marry Ali Haydar. Another problem of Ali Haydar is Vakkas, the owner of a rival restaurant whose father was Ali Haydar's tutor. Vakkas tries everything to ruin Ali Haydar with financial plots. While the fathers are struggling, Ali Haydar's elder daughter Melek and Vakkas' son Medet are secretly planning to marry. Cennet, Ali Haydar's second daughter decides not to show up in her graduation ball because she doesn't know how to dance. But Tim, a tourist working as an aide in Haydar's restaurant volunteers to teach her how to dance. Hanım has different problems. Her daughter Gülsüm who has an affair with a wealthy man, gets pregnant and her son Ulaş is planning to migrate to United States illegally. Meanwhile, Secaattin (Şeco for short), Neriman's brother, a zabıta (municipal police) whom all shopkeepers hate, is trying to fix problems with his ex-wife (who is his superior in the office) and his son.[2]
There are more than 30 characters. The important ones are as follows.[3]
| Name of the Character | Position | Played by | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanım | Meze cook | Türkan Şoray | |
| Ali Haydar | Restaurant owner | Şener Şen | |
| Vakkas | Rival restaurant owner | Settar Tanrıöğen [4] Tarık Pabuççuoğlu[5] | |
| Neriman | Ali Haydar's landlady | Güven Hokna | |
| Şecaattin (Şeco) | Neriman's brother, police | Özkan Uğur | |
| Zülfikar | Ali Haydar's father | Arif Erkin Güzelbeyoğlu | |
| Melek | Ali Haydar's elder daughter | Yasemin Conka | |
| Cennet | Ali Haydar's second daughter | Devin Özgür Çınar | |
| Huriye | Ali Haydar's third daughter | Merve Er | |
| Medet | Vakkas’ son | Nedim Saban | |
| Timothy | A tourist, working in the restaurant | ||
| Davut | Hanım's father | Bülent Oran | |
| Gülsüm | Hanım's daughter | Nurgül Yeşilçay | |
| Ulaş | Hanım's son | Ozan Güven | |
| Tansu | Secaattin's ex-wife | Nazlı Tosunoğlu | |
| Timuçin | Şecaattin's son | Barış Dinçel | |
| Murat | Gülsüm's young man | Devrim Nas | |
| Basri | A shop keeper (electrician) | Cezmi Baskın | |
| Melahat | A shop keeper (butcher) | Meral Okay |
In 1998 Şener Şen and Türkay Şoray were already well known stars. But the series promoted artists who played some of the young characters such as Nurgül Yeşilçay, Ozan Güven and Devin Özgür Çınar. Also Özkan Uğur who was known as a music star and Tan Sağtürk who was known as a ballet made names as the new faces in Turkish film industry.