Hero (2016 TV series)

Hero
大英雄
GenreFamily
Comedy
Written byAng Eng Tee 洪荣狄
Directed bySu Miao Fang 苏妙芳
Loo Yin Kam 卢燕金
Wong Foong Hwee 黃芬菲
StarringShaun Chen
Chen Hanwei
Jesseca Liu
Opening themeThe Extraordinary (格外精彩) by Janice Yan
Ending theme1) Tears (借你一点泪) by Power Station
2) Wait For Love (等一等爱情) by Bonnie Loo
3) Watching Over You (守护你) by Bonnie Loo
(No commentaries for News Tonight)
Country of originSingapore
Original languageMandarin
No. of episodes30 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerJasmine Woo 邬毓琳
Production locationsDakota Crescent, Singapore
Running timeapprox. 45 minutes (exc. advertisements)
Original release
NetworkMediacorp Channel 8
Release29 November 2016 (2016-11-29) –
9 January 2017 (2017-01-09)
Related

Hero (Chinese: 大英雄) is a Singaporean blockbuster drama produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8. It stars Shaun Chen, Chen Hanwei & Jesseca Liu as the casts of this series, and also features cameo appearances by Zoe Tay, Rebecca Lim, Xiang Yun, Jack Neo, Carrie Wong and more.

Plot

Through the lives of Zhou Fada (Shaun Chen), Ye Xiaoying (Chen Hanwei) and Zhang Weixiong (Jesseca Liu), three ordinary characters who grew up in Dakota Crescent, a series of interesting, exciting and personal stories will unfold…

Zhou Fada, also known as Big Brother, is a man with a strong sense of justice, loyalty and compassion. He always likes to help his neighbours handle the problem in need. But because of his overzealous and reckless character, his good intentions often turn out to cause more trouble than help.

Ye Xiaoying is Fada's uncle, who always dreams of achieving phenomenal success in life, but he never did live up to his dreams as he is essentially just a slacker. He is very good at keeping out of trouble, by tactically avoiding tricky situations. His motto in life is: A man's greatest power is not his fists, but his tongue. He believes that being good with words can help one sail through career and relationships smoothly, but the fact is, his career and love affairs are almost always on the rocks.

Zhang Weixiong is a manly name, but the owner of the name is actually a cute girl. When her mother was pregnant with her, the ultrasound scan showed that it was a baby boy, so her father went to the fortune teller and got her this dashing manly name. Who would have expected that it was a baby girl! But they went along with the name “Wei Xiong” after all. Weixiong is just like her name; she has great ambitions and a gusty character, and people in the neighborhood see her as the future elite. Unfortunately, that is just her pretense. She is actually very timid and cowardly, but she believes that in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, you will have to “never say die”. So even though she is crumbling from fear inside, she would always put up a strong front, and her strong-headedness always gets her into trouble. If not for the help of Big Brother Fada, with this personality, she might have much consequences to suffer.

This three characters, together known as “The Great Hero”, are the three musketeers of the neighbourhood, and from them, we will get to know many other members of Dakota Crescent, and also their inspiring, interesting and heart-warming stories.

Cast

Zhou family

Cast Role Description
Jin Yinji Granny Swordswoman
侠女阿嫲

Old bag (老太婆)

  • Zhou Fada's grandmother
  • Ye Xiaoying's aunt
  • Fan Fangfang and Chen Bangqing's landlady
  • Quan Min'er's mother-in-law
Chen Hanwei Ye Xiaoying
叶晓英
Ajussi (阿扎西)/Arnold Skeleton (阿诺死给你等)/Mr Ye (叶总)/0238/Ying(英/英哥/英大哥)
  • Zhou Fada's uncle and childhood playmate
  • Zhang Weixiong's childhood playmate
Shaun Chen Zhou Fada
周发达
Big Brother (大哥大)/Lazy Bum (懒惰星)/Penang Boy (槟城来的)
Pervert (死变态)/Honey (蜜糖)/Heroda/Mr Heroda (Heroda先生)
  • Original name Jonathan Zhou Kaipeng(周凯鹏)
  • Granny Swordswoman's grandson

Zhang (Zhiming) family

Cast Role Description
Zhu Xiufeng
朱秀凤
Granny Mahjong
麻将婆
  • Zhang Zhiming's mother
  • Xiao Jiahui's mother-in-law
  • Zhang Weixiong and Zhang Weikang's grandmother
Brandon Wong Zhang Zhiming
张志明

Ming (明/阿明)

  • Security officer
  • Xiao Jiahui's husband
  • Zhang Weixiong and Zhang Weikang's father
Pan Lingling Xiao Jiahui
萧家慧

Auntie Hui (慧姨)/Hui (慧/阿慧)

Jesseca Liu Zhang Weixiong
张伟雄

Teddy (大狗熊)/Xiong (雄)

  • Lawyer
  • Zhou Fada's girlfriend and childhood playmate
  • Ye Xiaoying's childhood playmate
  • Zhang Zhiming and Xiao Jiahui's daughter
  • Zhang Weikang's elder sister
Ian Fang Zhang Weikang
张伟康

Kang (康)

  • Zhang Zhiming and Xiao Jiahui's son
  • Zhang Weixiong's younger brother
  • Bonnie's ex-boyfriend
  • Guan Meiyu's boyfriend

Ou (Sihai) family

Cast Role Description
Zhu Houren Ou Sihai
区四海
Uncle Hai (海叔)
  • Ou Jinguang and Ou Jinxuan's father
  • Xiuzhen and Ye Xiaoying's father-in-law
Andie Chen
陈邦鋆
Ou Jinguang
区金光
Guang (阿光/光哥)
  • Ou Sihai's son
  • Ou Jinxuan's elder brother
  • Xiuzhen's husband
  • Ye Xiaoying's brother-in-law
  • Zhou Fada's best friend
  • In love with Fan Fangfang
Youyi
有懿
Xiuzhen
秀珍

Ms Buck Teeth (龅牙姐)

  • Ou Jinguang's wife
  • Fan Fangfang's rival in love
  • Ou Sihai's daughter-in-law
  • Ou Jinxuan and Ye Xiaoying's sister-in-law
  • Auntie Teochew's daughter
Paige Chua
蔡琦慧
Ou Jinxuan
区金萱

Villain (later part) but repented in the end
Youme/Ms Diana (Diana 小姐)

  • Ou Sihai's daughter
  • Ou Jinguang's younger sister
  • Xiuzhen's sister-in-law
  • Ye Xiaoying's fiancée
  • Boyboy's mother
Nicholas Lim 林道锐 Boy Boy

Little Imp (小冬瓜)

  • Ye Xiaoying and Ou Jinxuan's son

Guan (A-li) family

Cast Role Description
Chen Tianwen Guan A-li
关阿礼
Hothead (火爆王)
  • Huang Lili's ex-husband
  • Guan Meiyu and Guan Meimei's father
Aileen Tan Huang Lili
黄丽丽

Li (丽姐)

  • Guan A-li's ex-wife
  • Guan Meiyu and Guan Meimei's mother
  • Working as a cleaner with Guan Meimei
He Yingying Guan Meiyu
关美玉

May

  • Guan A-li and Huang Lili's elder daughter
  • Guan Meimei's elder twin sister
  • Zhang Weikang's girlfriend
Bonnie Loo Guan Meimei
关美美
  • Guan A-li and Huang Lili's younger daughter
  • Guan Meiyu's younger twin sister
  • Likes singing
  • Working as a cleaner with Huang Lili
  • Walter's love interest

Luo (Bei) family

Cast Role Description
Ng Suan Loi 黃晶晶 Granny Cardboard/Cha Kwee Kiao
纸皮婆
  • Luo Bei's mother
  • Cardboard collector
  • (Deceased - episode 21)
Peter Yu 宏荣 Luo Bei
罗北
Someone's-in-a-big-hurry (赶着去投胎)/Xiang (阿祥)
  • Granny Cardboard's son
  • Ex-gambler
  • Ex-actor
  • Taxi driver

Other characters

Cast Role Description Episodes Appeared
Sheila Sim Fan Fangfang
范芳芳

Fann Wong (范文芳)/Fang (芳)/Shh (嘘)

  • Came from China to look for job in Singapore
  • Chen Bangqing's ex-girlfriend and enemy
  • Ou Jinguang's love interest
2-5, 7-9, 11-21, 23, 26, 28
Henry Thia
程旭辉
Steven Villain
  • Pervert who took Weixiong's undergarments
  • Accused Xiao Jiahui of being promiscuous and tried to take liberties with her
  • Granny Mahjong's playmate
4-6, 9-10
Teddy Tang
唐崧瑞
Jack Chan

Villain

Jack Neo (梁志强)/Jack (小Jack)

  • Zhang Weixiong's classmate and love interest
  • Threatened Zhang Weixiong with her nude photos
5, 7-9, 11
James Seah
谢俊峰
Chen Bangqing 陈邦庆 Qing (阿庆)/Chen (小陈)
  • Fan Fangfang's ex-boyfriend and enemy
  • Granny Swordswoman's tenant
  • Brought a drunken Fan Fangfang to a hotel and offered her to Mr Liu
  • Framed Ye Xiaoying and caused him to be jailed, Fan Fangfang and caused her to be deported
  • Attempted to kill Fan Fangfang but eventually it gotten himself a severe accident in episode 28
7-9, 11-12, 14-18, 26, 28
Mervyn Lee
李岳杰
Potty Mouth
臭口王
  • Ex-gambler
  • Ye Xiaoying's rival
  • Ah Jiao's husband
6, 8, 12, 20, 24, 27, 30
Desmond Ng
黄振隆
Walter Lu

Bin Trasher (踢桶男)/Mr Lu (陆先生)

  • In love with Guan Meimei, but rejected by her family
9, 11-13, 17-19, 22, 28, 30
Marcus Mok
莫健发
Eric Old Pervert (老乌龟)
  • Guan Meiyu's sugar daddy
11, 13-15
Joy Yak
易凌
Jiao
阿娇
  • Potty Mouth's wife
  • Attempted suicide in episode 11
11-12, 14, 20, 24, 27-28, 30
王慧莹 Auntie Teochew 潮州嫂
  • Offered her porridge stall to Ou Jinguang
  • Xiuzhen's mother
12, 14-15
马天凌 Mr Liu
刘总
  • Chen Bangqing and Ye Xiaoying's boss
14-15
Zhang Yaodong Zhang Zhentian
张振天
  • Lawyer
  • Zhang Weixiong's ex-boyfriend and boss
20-21, 24-26, 28-30

Cameo appearances

Cast Role Description
Carrie Wong Alexia
  • The three Charlie's Angels
Ya Hui Betty
Felicia Chin Cathy
Chew Chor Meng Wei Ge 伟哥
  • Loanshark boss
Oh Ling En 胡菱恩 Student 中学学生
Dennis Chew Auntie Lucy
  • Granny Mahjong's playmate
  • Was owed debt by Granny Mahjong
Tay Ping Hui Rice King 饭王
  • Zhou Fada's friend
  • Sold rice, curry sauce and a few other ingredients to Zhou Fada
Kym Ng Fishball Girl 鱼丸妹
  • Zhou Fada's friend
  • Sold some fishballs to Zhou Fada
Mark Lee Long Ge 龙哥
  • A mover boss who gave a job to Zhou Fada
Terence Cao Xie Xian 谢贤
  • Xiao Jiahui's secondary school classmate
  • Gave Xiao Jiahui a lift home in his branded car
Jack Neo Liang Po Po 梁婆婆
Zhang Zhenhuan
张振寰
George Pu
  • Ou Jinxuan's ex-boyfriend
Xiang Yun
向云
Quan Min'er
权敏儿
  • Zhou Fada's biological mother
  • Suffered from a terminal disease
  • (Deceased - episode 13)
Zoe Tay
郑惠玉
Deborah
  • Zhang Weikang's sugar mummy
  • Alex's wife
Wang Yuqing Leo
Guo Liang
郭亮
Alex
  • Zhang Weikang's offender
  • Deborah's husband
Rebecca Lim
林慧玲
Rebecca Lim 林慧玲 As herself
Richard Low Old fogey 老鬼
  • Humiliated Granny Swordswoman at the hawker centre
Huang Biren He Xuemei
何雪美

Tigeress (老虎)/Mdm Hor

  • Reprised her role as a prison officer from Tiger Mum
  • Mistook Ye Xiaoying for Antonio Chen Hongyu, who also appeared in Tiger Mum
Jeremy Chan John
  • Runs a tropical fish shop
Michael Huang Liar
  • Gangster who threatened Xiao Jiahui
Jayley Woo
胡佳琪
Bonnie

Flat-chested (莫尼)

  • Zhang Weikang's ex-girlfriend
Sora Ma
马艺瑄
Herself
  • Actress
  • Went to Guan Meimei's concert in Episode 28
Desmond Tan Himself
  • Actor
  • Went to Guan Meimei's concert in Episode 28
Zheng Geping Bonnie父亲
  • Bonnie's father
Kenneth Chung Himself
  • Radio host
Hong Ling Herself
  • Actress
洪偉文 Mr Hong
洪编剧
  • Scriptwriter

Original Sound Track (OST)

Song title Song type Lyrics Composer Performer Producer
The Extraordinary 格外精彩 Opening theme song 王振声 周以力 Janice Yan 阎奕格
Tears 借你一点泪 Sub-theme song 姚若龙 郑楠 Power Station
Wait For Love 等一等爱情 乐声 邓碧源 Bonnie Loo 麦如丽
Watching Over You 守护你 高飞 Benny Wong

Production

Dakota Crescent is one of Singapore's earliest housing estates, built in 1958 by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), which preceded the Housing and Development Board (HDB). In July 2014, it was decided that the housing estate would be redeveloped under the HDB's SERS scheme and all residents would have to relocate by 2016.[1] This prompted a campaign by activists for its conservation,[2] work of art to be created about it[3][4] and also media coverage given to Dakota Crescent.[5]

This drama series was produced also as a means of kick-starting the commemoration of 35 years of Singapore-produced Chinese-language television in Singapore. As part of this, Mediacorp's famous Chinese-speaking comedy icons, such as Paris and Milan character Auntie Lucy (played by Dennis Chew) and Liang Po Po (played by Jack Neo) of Comedy Nite, will be making cameo appearances in this drama.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Imaging sessions were done in end-April and early-May 2016, while the first scene was shot on 23 May.[14][15] On 30 July 2016, in the nineteenth season of The Sheng Siong Show, it was also announced that Power Station will be performing the drama's ending theme. They were in Singapore to promote their "Next Station" world tour which will be held on 27 August.

A post screening session was conducted at Dakota Crescent's Care and Friends Centre. The cast of Hero - Shaun Chen, Jesseca Liu, Chen Hanwei, Bonnie Loo, Paige Chua, Ian Fang, Sheila Sim, Youyi, He Yingying, Aileen Tan, Brandon Wong and Jin Yinji were present. The first episode of the show was also broadcast there.

Accolades

The series has the most nominations in Star Awards 2017, and won two, which was Best Supporting Actress and Drama Serial.

Year Ceremony Category Nominees Result Ref
2017 Star Awards Best Director Wong Foong Hwee 黄芬菲 Nominated
Best Screenplay Ang Eng Tee 洪荣狄 Nominated
London Choco Roll Happiness Award Shaun Chen Nominated
Bioskin Healthiest Hair Award Desmond Ng Nominated
Best Actor Shaun Chen Nominated
Best Actress Jesseca Liu Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Andie Chen Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Paige Chua Nominated
Pan Lingling Nominated
Bonnie Loo Nominated
Aileen Tan Won
Best Evergreen Artiste Award 常青演绎奖 Aileen Tan Nominated
Best Drama Serial 最佳电视剧 Won

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dakota Crescent tenants hit by news of redevelopment". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  2. ^ ""Group pushing to save Dakota Crescent"". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Community theatre show puts spotlight on Dakota Crescent and its residents". Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Overwhelming response to Drama Box's site-specific performance in Dakota Crescent". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  5. ^ "5 things to remember about Dakota Crescent". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  6. ^ ""绚耀"咖啡馆悄悄开业 刘子绚《大英雄》首次挑战搞笑角色" (in Chinese). Channel 8 News and Current Affairs. 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  7. ^ "陈泓宇:新剧角色取名自"达哥打弯"感荣幸 拍完戏急着回家看孩子" (in Chinese). Channel 8 News and Current Affairs. 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  8. ^ "Auntie Lucy重出江湖 客串重头剧《大英雄》" (in Chinese). Channel 8 News and Current Affairs. 27 May 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  9. ^ "陈汉玮挺脊柱骨伤口拍戏 为母亲祈福改吃素" (in Chinese). Channel 8 News and Current Affairs. 27 May 2016. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  10. ^ "梁婆婆重出江湖 梁志强新片拒当导演?" (in Chinese). Toggle. 11 June 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  11. ^ "郑斌辉赴中国演蒙古大汗 陈泓宇与妻女分房睡" (in Chinese). Toggle. 18 June 2016. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016.
  12. ^ Tammi Tan (16 July 2016). "No sugar mummies for Ian Fang". Toggle. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  13. ^ "刘子绚望办海滩婚礼 郑惠玉"吃"嫩草方伟杰" (in Chinese). Toggle. 16 July 2016. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016.
  14. ^ "刘子绚否认下个月结婚 陈泓宇望携妻女拍广告" (in Chinese). Toggle. 29 May 2016. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  15. ^ "陈邦鋆下月搬家迎接小公主 黄炯耀晒儿破家变传闻" (in Chinese). Toggle. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
Preceded by
The Dream Makers (season 2)
2015-16
Star Awards for Best Drama Serial
Hero
2016-17
Succeeded by
When Duty Calls
2017-18