Maggie Shiu Reminisces Filming “Blood of Good and Evil”
Recently, classic TVB drama Blood of Good and Evil <我本善良> is being aired again on television in the midnight time slot in Hong Kong. The series, which originally aired in 1990, brought back many nostalgic memories to viewers. Maggie Shiu‘s (邵美琪) unforgettable pairing and on-screen chemistry with Deric Wan (溫兆倫) also led to a long-standing friendship between the two.
Maggie admitted to tuning in each night to watch the re-broadcast. “It’s delightful to watch the series again. It has already been 28 years ago! It made me think back about all the memories from when we filmed outdoor scenes in London. Like the silly times when Deric used to play pranks on the dogs! When I watch it and recall these memories, I would be inspired to reach out and message him. My fans have also recently visited all the places that we used for backdrops in London. Those places seem to have become attractions!”
In addition, Maggie’s recent drama My Ages Apart <誇世代> was also a success and beat out several high-budget TVB anniversary dramas to win the Best Drama award. However, Maggie was notably absent when the entire cast and crew went on stage to accept the award. Maggie recently made a public appearance while attending the celebration banquet for the drama. Due to other work obligations, she was not in Hong Kong on the night of the awards ceremony and expressed regret for not being on stage to receive the award with her cast mates. “I’m happy that the series got an award and also happy for everyone! I feel pity though because I was not physically there at the time. I have never received an award before, so this would have been my opportunity to go on stage! Next year, regardless of who wins, I’ll barge out there to celebrate!”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.
I am watching it now. Up to ep 33. Great stuff! TVB just to make all these classics. Now it is such a rarity.
@elizabeth Yeah. Clearly shows how important the script is.
@elizabeth Indeed, it is one of my favorite TVB series. Great cast, great acting, especially Deric Wan and Kenneth Tsang.
@elizabeth I’m rewatching too, even though I had already rewatched several months ago, lol…..can never get tired of watching these classics! This time around, I’m also enjoying the supplementary articles that HK01 has been doing on a few of the artists from the series and the “what are they doing now” angle.
Btw, the series scheduled to air after BOGAE in the midnight time slot is yet another classic: The Feud Between Two Brothers starring Alex Man and Dodo Cheng.
@llwy12 Deric and Maggie were my favorite TVB couple in the 1990s. Among their dramas together, “BOGAE” was my favorite since their love story had a good ending. I watched the series at least 5 times and obsessed over their scenes together.
@jayne They were also my favorite TVB couple from the 90s era and I love that they are also such good friends in real life! I watched the “reunion” show they did last year (with BOGAE’s scriptwriter Chan Bo Wah and also Deric’s “older brother” Benz Hui) and was moved to tears seeing them together again (especially given Deric’s checkered past in terms of relationships and obviously does not have many friends in the industry). I love BOGAE for other reasons (script, cast, acting, production values, etc.) but I do agree that this was the only series where Deric and Maggie had a good (albeit extremely bittersweet) ending. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched the series (probably upwards of 20 times) but regardless of how many times I re-watch, the ending always manages to make me cry. BOGAE will always be one of my favorite series, right up there with LBIA (Looking Back in Anger) as 2 of the best modern series TVB ever produced. With all that said, it’s a shame that TVB is incapable of making these types of series anymore – series that are able to stand the test of time (almost 30 years for both BOGAE and LBIA) are hard to come by nowadays so I always consider it a treat to get the opportunity to re-watch these series.
@llwy12 “With all that said, it’s a shame that TVB is incapable of making these types of series anymore – series that are able to stand the test of time (almost 30 years for both BOGAE and LBIA)”
Scripts back then were more classic. Aside from a few exceptions, overall cast performances were very heartfelt. Hong Kong dramas at the time entertained Asian families all over the world…I remember paying a good deal of money at tape rental stores just to watch one series.
Before the Hong Kong handover, local talents stayed within the Hong Kong market. Perhaps some TV actors and producers went into film, but still stayed within the boundaries of Hong Kong. As China continued to improve the quality of their productions and offered more money, it’s inevitable experienced artistes and production staff would go to China. TVB never had a forward-looking vision. They just continued to ride on their past glorious history. They were happy looking to the same formula: recycling scripts and paying little.
@llwy12
Do you think this series is as good as LBIA? I was not into modern series back then and am only watching them more recently since I was more into ancient series. It is such a shame that TVB has gone so downhill that these classics are no longer made which is why I only watch mostly China and Taiwan series now. It is rare for TVB to make a decent series these days.
@hetieshou Absolutely! BOGAE is a MUST WATCH!!!! The cast itself is well worth watching (you won’t find this cast ever again in another series or movie), but in this case, it also goes beyond the cast because the script was fantastic as well, plus high production value with all the filming in England.
My recommendation for all you folks who haven’t watched this series (and any other TVB classics) is to try and get your hands on the original version if you can, as I had read that in TVB’s “revamped” version (the version they aired in midnight time slot), they had to switch out some of the songs due to copyright issue (remember that TVB is still at odds with certain record companies). With most of the older TVB series (BOGAE especially), the songs were oftentimes important to the plot so if they switch out the songs, the experience definitely won’t be the same. If you can’t get a hold of the original version, then just note that if you hear/see any weird song/scene combinations, it wasn’t part of the original series.
@llwy12 agree about the original version. Who can forget the scene when Deric is waiting for Maggie in the airport and Right Here Waiting is playing in background, or the part when they’re in London and they play Don’t Know Much, or the part when they’re redecorating the house and Don Henley’s End of the Innocence is playing in the background? What TVB don’t realise is that music and song add so much to the experience and storytelling, so by replacing the classics with rubbish Tvb music/song just cheapens it for us. This is the reason why I can’t watch the rerun and rather watch the original online. I almost wrote an email to TVB to complain as they’ve done the same to all my favourite tv shows of late.
@longhair84 The issue mainly stems from all the songs that are under the Universal label (which includes all the old Polygram songs that were a staple of many old TVB classics). Because of TVB’s fallout with Universal (which honestly TVB did to themselves because their stupid Voice CEO Herman Ho disrespected Universal with their ridiculous demands), they made the decision to switch out all of the songs that they no longer have the rights to (some they bought long time ago so those are fine). Honestly, instead of switching out the song, they could’ve made the effort to ask Universal if they could continue to use it this one time since it would impact the series if they don’t – I’m sure Universal would’ve agreed because they aren’t petty like TVB is…or if TVB is planning to re-broadcast series with a lot of songs under the Universal label, then they should sit down and re-negotiate with them again – either that or don’t air the series period! But of course, TVB isn’t going to do that – my suspicion is that they don’t even know which series have songs in them that are under Universal (most of the current management wasn’t around back then so they probably have no clue). Even if they do know though, they aren’t going to ask because 1) asking is akin to “losing face” which they of course aren’t going to do, 2) they don’t give a crap that switching out the songs impacts the series, which is in-line with their general attitude toward all their series, 3) they are lazy and figured switching out the songs is easier.
For BOGAE specifically, I had heard that during one of the earlier episodes – I don’t remember which episode but it’s the scene where Ho Nam (Deric) and Diane (Kitty) just finished having dinner at his house and she is pissed at him because he told his parents they are getting married when there was actually no previous discussion about it between the two of them. Diane then leaves and goes to see her friend Sam (which of course Ho Nam sees because he was following her). At this time, the song that played in the original version was Beyond’s “Forgive Me Today” which had lyrics that fit perfectly with the scene – with the midnight timeslot version though, TVB switched out Beyond’s song (they used to be under Polygram label so the rights to the song belong to Universal now) and put in Raymond Lam’s “Your Love” (the sub-theme song to “Moonlight Resonance”)…um, yea, seriously….Raymond’s song didn’t come out until 2008 and BOGAE is from 1990, plus Raymond’s song already belongs to another series, not to mention the lyrics don’t fit with the scene like Beyond’s song did. I’m glad I didn’t watch the midnight timeslot version because I would’ve been pissed as hell!!
@llwy12 that’s just laughable, playing a Raymond Lam song even though Raymond Lam was only around 11 years old at the time of when they broadcasted this originally. It’s not just the songs but the background music, sure some of the bgm isn’t original and taken from a lot of Hollywood movies but they added so much to the scenes. I’m surprised no one has complained, but knowing tvb’s style I doubt they would even care anyway.
@longhair84 I’m thinking no one has complained because most people don’t know. Those of us who’ve watched those classic series and know the original content probably can spot it, but for someone who has never seen the series before, unless they’re really paying attention, they probably are not going to notice (or maybe they are fans of the replacement songs so they would rather not say anything so TVB keeps their idols’ songs in there). The songs maybe – especially if it’s something as glaring as putting a Raymond Lam song into a series from 1990 – but the music is much harder to detect. I actually didn’t know about this issue at first because I have most of TVB’s classic series (the original versions that came out back in the day) either on video tape or DVD somewhere and those are usually the versions I watch/re-watch – the other ones I’ve seen online were the original versions as well. I only found out because HK01 (media outlet) did a few articles on it, since they’ve been covering most of TVB’s midnight timeslot series (literally doing a play-by-play of sorts each week with inside information on the artists and some of the plot points of the series)…after reading those articles, I did some research on my own and was able to link it back to the Universal thing.
To be honest though, even if people do complain, TVB isn’t going to care because that’s just how they are – they don’t apologize or change because doing so means they are admitting wrongdoing (I can only think of one instance in the last decade where TVB actually publicly apologized for something that they screwed up and gave a commitment to fixing it). Even if they get a lot of complaints, like the time when they got 10K + complaints over their usage of Simplified Chinese characters in their newscasts (and even their former management said they should be using traditional Chinese due to them being a HK television station), yet they still continued to do it, justifying it with some bogus excuse. Just this past week, TVB got into hot water when their news reporters were caught on video impeding rescue operations at last weekend’s Tai Po bus crash site in HK (the stupid TVB reporter kept asking the firefighters and police officers to “give them 3 and a half minutes” to do a quick report for their telecast when the firefighters were telling them to get out of the way so they could lift up the bus to check for trapped passengers) – they got major flack for that, including thousands of angry complaints both online and to their station, yet they released a statement basically defending the reporter and claiming that the firefighters “didn’t lift the bus until several hours later” anyway so they didn’t see it as impeding operations. I mean, people’s lives were on the line, yet TVB didn’t care and were only concerned about getting their report done and then when the outraged public complained, they didn’t even apologize, instead using every excuse in the book to justify their position (including putting the blame on the firefighters for taking so long to lift the bus). With such a huge issue as the above (their reporters impeding rescue efforts), TVB doesn’t heed the public’s complaints, of course they aren’t going to give a crap about people’s complaints of them switching out songs!
@llwy12
THANKS so much for the info and recommendation too. I have been debating about whether to see this series or not. One of my friends only watched it because Kitty Lai is in it as she is a big fan of Kitty Lai so I did not trust her opinion. Let me try to find the original version to watch. The soundtrack to a series is important too. There is definitely way more to a series than the cast only but sadly many just blindly go for the cast without caring about anything else.
@jayne
I have never watched this series as I was not into modern series back then but started to like them recently. Would you recommend this series?
@hetieshou “I have never watched this series as I was not into modern series back then but started to like them recently. Would you recommend this series?” Yes definitely recommend “Blood of Good and Evil”. Great plot and cast performances! If you like Deric and Maggie, it’s a series not to be missed; truly their best series together!
Probably the first HK series to use beautiful scenery and transport from our own England. Blood of Good and Evil is Law Lok Lam’s best series. A golden classic during the years of ‘Looking Back in Anger’ and ‘The Breaking Point’ and surprise, surprise; all of them starring Deric Wan.
@jimmyszeto Deric had so many classic hits!
@tiffany
Let’s not forget ‘On the Edge’ and ‘Vengeance’(with the sexiest TVB actress of all time). One of my personal favourites is ‘A Good Match from Heaven’ with Jessica Hsuan. This series shows that both Deric and Jessica are naturals at light hearted comedies too. If you watched Jessica in this then you would not believe how Jessica would move on to be typecasted in ‘professional female ‘roles. ‘Golden Faith’ was a good nice reunion between Jessica and Deric.
@jimmyszeto There’s also the series with Simon Yam and Yammie Nam — War of the Dragon — where Deric played an undercover cop going against Simon the triad leader (Bryan Leung put in such a scarily amazing performance in that series). On the Edge is also one of my favorites but that series was more emphasis on Francis Ng, who gave one of the performances of his career in there. In terms of comedy, I also refer back to Deric’s debut series, the sitcom City Japes from 1986, which is one of my all time favorite TVB sitcoms. Vengeance was good too but not a fan of Irene Wan (sexiest actress yes but not a good actress)….
@llwy12
I’m a Male so Irene’s sexiness does help capitivate the Male audience such as myself similar to the blind support of Ruco in this forum. Tbh I have to admit I can ignore her acting when she has such a presence. I agree that War of the Dragon, on the Edge and Vengeance Series was overshadowed respectively by Simon Yam, Francis Ng and Wan Yueng Ming. The characters he was given in those series were good characters with no real development which certainly is a waste. War of the Dragon at the time was probably a very good series involving triads but after years of triad movies it makes the plot less watchable. Great performances from Simon Yam and Bryan Leung though with excellent support from Anthony Wong and Canti Lau. Vengeance has a weak plot but it is Irene Wan’s only classic. ‘On the Edge’ for me is the most underated series of all time and Francis Ng’s amazing performance with one of the best but saddest TVB endings of all time alongside ‘Looking Back in Anger’. I have watched City Japes and it is one of the few sitcoms where every episode is watchable. This was early in Roger and Gallen’s career alongside many actresses and veterans who have either left the industry or passed away. Deric was in many classics but all early in his career. The scandals ruined his popularity….
@jimmyszeto Deric was hilarious in Class of 93’. He’s a very versatile actor. His Vengeance subsong was a hit!
I’ve watched Jessica prior to her typecast professional roles lol She was funny in A Recipe for the Heart.
deric wan is a versatile actor not only his drama but even more his songs brings so many good memories of my childhood. 從未試過擁有 and 沒有你之後 are my favourite songs but he has more good songs. i like his voice and style of his songs.
@kolo
I can’t write or read chinese but songs that come to mind are sub themes to ‘The Breaking Point’, main themes to ‘On the Edge’ and ‘Heroes of Shaolin’, duets with Nnadia Chan for ‘Song Bird’. Deric also has albums of decent mandarin songs. If Deric had been invited for the ‘Cantopop at 50’ show, he would have blown the others away…
@jimmyszeto Yup…love so many of his songs, even the ones from his series in the late 80s. I found my collection of cassette tapes the other day and forgot until I went through them again that I actually own all of Deric’s albums from back in the day. He had so many great songs! Too bad he has such a bad relationship with HK media and pretty much burned all his bridges in HK, since that means we won’t have much opportunity to see him appear in anything HK related.
@llwy12
@llwy12
I have a few Deric albums which recently was in a case a relative has borrowed along with other cds. Hopefully I will get them back! It’s a shame he didn’t win any singing awards at the time but his primary focus was on acting. It’s not a disaster that he has broken ties with Hong Kong since he wasn’t in demand and the media was ruthless on him throughout the years. It’s just a shame for the handful of fans such as ourselves. He is much more cherished in China where they focus a lot more on his achievements then on his personal life. Recently he even had his own concert. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yOLDfkw6OXY
@jimmyszeto
Thanks for letting me know about the concert. Watching it now. 🙂
Who is the little girl who open for the concert?
I have to say, his voice is not as strong as he used to be and also I found the singing also lacking. He used to be very good. What has happened to him? Has he not sung for a long time and thus now a bit raw?
Anyway, still happy for him that he finally get to have his own concert. The songs still bring back fond memories to me.
@kidd
Not sure who the kid is since I don’t understand mandarin.Just like in anything, lack of practice or lack of recognition and the skills become rusty. I have that some of Deric’s singing was quite awkward in recent appearances. Think he had practiced a lot so improved for the concert. Was surprised he didn’t sing his theme song to ‘On the Edge’ because it’s one was his more recognisable sad songs.
@jimmyszeto
He didn’t sing many of his other classic Cantonese songs either. I think this concert is catered more towards his Mainland fans. So, he sang mostly mandarin songs.
@kidd
Yeh. It’s quite sad that Deric is relegated to small mainland appearances now and won’t be known as a future TVB great. Still has plenty of money but no recognition
@jimmyszeto yes, Deric has many memorable TVB classic series and theme songs in the 90s. I love Song Bird Album where he duets with Nadia Chan even though I kinda prefer Leon Lai – Nadia version in the series. I like all the songs from The Breaking Point too and definitely sub theme from A Good Match from Heaven.
@nori Agreed! Deric’s voice isn’t bad but I prefer Leon too. Love his songs in The Breaking Point, 對不起,我愛你 and 人在黎明 are my favourites
@mindee Every time I listen to 對不起,我愛你, it reminds me of Leon and Maggie.
@nori
Same here. Great love song reminds of Maggie. Never think of Kathy with this…
@kolo
“從未試過擁有 and 沒有你之後 are my favourite songs”
It’s Deric who wrote the lyrics of 沒有你之後. 😀
I was more into the non love-themed songs. So, my favourite songs of his are 我得到什麼 and 隨緣. I also like 正義柔情永在 because it was a duet with my then other fave singer Nadia Chan.
@kidd 隨緣 was actually the theme song to “On the Edge”, the series Deric co-starred in with Francis Ng and Sheren Tang (though Francis was really the one to watch in the series, as he gave a phenomenal performance!). It’s a great song, one that every time I hear it, I feel like re-watching the series all over again even though it’s such a sad series and the ending always makes me cry….
@llwy12
Yes, “On the Edge” is definitely Francis series. I watch the series for Deric, but, ended up root for Francis. Deric’s character was harder to root for since he got everything easily (compared to Francis who was always the one making sascrifices). I was especially annoyed with Deric’s impulsive action in Malaysian airport, which partly lead to what happen at the end.
@kidd
Yeh. Deric should have gave them that chance of escaping.His impulsive actions is suicidal for himself and his friend.
Deric Wan actually used his character’s name from ‘Blood of Good and Evil’ (albeit with a different spelling) as his pen name when he wrote lyrics for his songs. He must have loved this character very much.
Character’s name : 浩男
Pen name: 浩南
Deric was not only a good singer with a mesmerizing voice, he was also a pretty decent lyricist. But, most of the lyrics he wrote are sad love songs. I only remember one happy song.
@kidd agree his songs are mostly very sad, deric wan and dave wong are the kings of sad songs. unfortunately in contrary of dave, deric never got the recognition he deserves in the music industry. maybe in the ’80 and ’90 there are too many good songs and singers. such talent that can act,sing and compose songs is rarely seen.
@kolo
I think he nearly got the chance. He was very popular a while in the early 90s. He played many leads in TV series and even acted in the few movies and his albums were doing quite well. But, bad press ruined him.
Yes, a very talented guy. Can act, sing, write and compose songs. My memory slipped and I thought he only wrote the lyrics of the song 擁抱吧, but, he was also the composer. I remember this song made it to JSG and he performed it there.
@kidd “I think he nearly got the chance. He was very popular a while in the early 90s. He played many leads in TV series and even acted in the few movies and his albums were doing quite well.”
Deric was already married during the airing of “Blood of Good and Evil”. Although Deric got famous for his acting, idols such as Leon Lai soon became even more famous. Leon was cast ahead of Deric in “The Breaking Point” even though his acting was a lot weaker. I think if Deric had not gotten married so early in his career, his fame and singing career may have even reached a higher peak.
When Deric’s scandal with Bessie Chan broke, his career was already slowing down. Gallen Lo was becoming more prominent in TVB dramas and in the music industry, Deric was overshadowed by the 4 Heavenly Kings.
@jayne I agree with you in terms of Deric’s career already slowing down back in the 90s (to me, his last “big” series was 1992’s “Vengeance”, even though he made more series after that and didn’t leave TVB until 1996). Of course, all the scandals didn’t help things, as it gave him a bad reputation, plus his personality had always been an issue that made it hard for him to maintain friendships. But career-wise, I remember having a conversation with someone back in the 90s about Deric’s decision to never take on villain roles again after “The Breaking Point” (he had actually said this during an interview back then) and we had come to the conclusion that this decision, rather than the scandals, was actually what slowed down his career back then. For an actor as versatile and talented as Deric, limiting yourself to only certain types of roles is a huge mistake, especially during that critical time period in the early 90s when all of the 5 Tigers (who pretty much dominated most of the 80s era) already left and TVB was looking for the next big crop of stars to take their place. We talk a lot about TVB’s habit of typecasting their artists into certain roles, which has been one of their (TVB’s) biggest flaws since the beginning of time in terms of how they manage their artists, so when you’re in a position to choose (like Deric was back in those days), it would’ve been wiser for him to take on roles that would’ve played up his strengths (in acting), regardless of whether they were villain or pseudo-villain roles, rather than push away roles that didn’t fit his “good guy” definition. Speaking of Gallen Lo, I feel that he’s a great example of forging the right path during a critical time, as he started taking on villain roles in the 90s (every single one of Gallen’s roles up through 1990 was essentially the same “goody-two-shoes” honest-looking handsome guy character) and even after he became popular and got to lead status, he had no problem continuing to take on villain / pseudo-villain roles as long as the role suited him. There’s a reason why Gallen is one of the most successful artists to come out of TVB (I’m talking strictly television only here) and why he continues to be highly sought after by producers even now (and we all know he had his fair share of “scandal” with his previous marriage and such, though of course nowhere near the level of Deric’s scandals).
@llwy12
@llwy12
I heard in an interview that Gallen started networking and knocking on doors at TVB to gain more notice during his struggling days when his acting was terrible. Deric however is not the sociable and likeable fellow. Leung Si Ho in a recent radio talk show with Deric’s ex Sara mentioned that Deric stormed into the TVB makeup room during the ‘City Japes’ days and blasting him before throwing paperwork in his face for stealing a front page cover on his magazine. During that time Spencer Leung Si Ho was also getting a bit of fame as the lazy brother in the sitcom. Obviously, this made it very awkward as Spencer had to play Deric’s brother again in ‘Looking Back in Anger’.
@jimmyszeto I can see why Deric would be upset in that instance because he technically WAS supposed to be the lead (though kind of hard to determine true lead in sitcoms – more ensemble cast than anything else), since he was more “established” in terms of experience (first TVB series but not debut in industry), but to be honest, Spencer’s character was indeed more memorable and more popular at that time (to this day, whenever I see Spencer on TV, his “Sai Mai Wah” character still comes to mind, lol)….though to be fair to Deric, Spencer also wasn’t an easy person to get along with (as he himself has admitted to in the past). But yes, Deric also isn’t the type to be proactive and seek out work opportunities, which is neither a good or bad thing, just a personality trait that can work for or against him, especially in the entertainment industry where, oftentimes, networking can be critical to success.
To jayne’s point, I agree that Deric was lucky, especially early in his career getting the opportunities he did, though with his acting prowess, of course it was well-deserved, compared to Gallen whose acting was truly terrible when he started – even Gallen’s “brother” Roger Kwok (both shared the same manager at the time and debuted in City Japes together) was getting better opportunities and was already leading his own series almost from the very start of his career (he was third or fourth male lead in City Japes whereas Gallen’s character was clearly supporting and also nonessential) [for the record, I’m not complaining, as I love Roger — he’s one of my favorite actors – and him being promoted was well-deserved, since he was definitely the better actor of the two]. But that’s why I’m not surprised that Gallen would try to take a more proactive approach back then, despite his acting not being up to par.
@llwy12 In retrospect, Deric was already very lucky with his career path at TVB. He and Gallen Lo both starred in “City Japes” but Deric was a stronger actor than Gallen at the start of their careers. Deric definitely had a lucky break with “Looking Back in Anger”. The character was already written very memorably and Deric gave an adequate performance there.
I remember when Deric rose to prominence, a bunch of more established actors such as Felix Wong went to ATV or the film industry. So there were now a lot of lead opportunities for the likes of Deric, Gallen Lo, Lau Sek Ming, Frankie Lam, etc. Among the handful of rising young actors at the time, Deric really was the most promising and could hold a series.
Deric was at TVB at the right time. His career defining role was “Blood of Good and Evil”. The role really suited him and I can’t imagine another actor playing the role so well. Cold on the outside with a dangerous edge, but capable of loving very deeply. The scriptwriter fleshed out Deric and Maggie’s characters very well. Both gave very good performances, but the characters were very original and well-written to start.
“The Breaking Point” was a waste of Deric’s talent. I remember feeling angry that Leon Lai was given the lead over Deric. The drama felt like a drawn-out love music video over Leon’s various love relationships.
After “The Breaking Point”, Deric’s roles were very safe. I admit his good guy roles were somewhat boring. He’s also not very suitable in ancient and comedy roles. Maybe TVB wanted to keep him as a well-liked lead, so continued to cast him in very safe productions.
In 1992’s “Vengeance”, Gallen’s character overshadowed Deric, who really had nothing to do except be a very safe love interest for Irene Wan. The drama was a turning point in Gallen’s career and he went on to lead in big productions over the next few years.
At the same time, producer Lau Ka Ho cast Alex Man in several grand dramas in the mid 1990s. But Deric was never part of Lau’s camp and only continued to appear in smaller-budget dramas that didn’t have memorable storylines until 1994’s “Conscience”.
In the meantime, Gallen continued to prove his acting chops. 1996’s “Cold Blood Warm Heart” cemented his star power and status at TVB.
It was also around this time that Deric’s scandal with Bessie Chan broke out, so his image was damaged severely. After that, Gallen took over TVB screens and had one success after another.
I think Deric was very lucky in landing some very memorable roles that boosted his career tremendously. But after the mid 1990s, when his roles were no longer that good and coupled with his scandals, his career never peaked again.
@jayne
I think Gallen was the luckier of the two in the way he continually recasted as the lead when he was flopping series after series early in his career. If it happened in current times he would have been given the axe after a couple of failures. In Vengence there was an improvement but his acting was still flawed with overacting. In Cold Blood Warm Heart there was further improvement but still a bit of overacting. It wasn’t until ‘Secret of the Heart’ and ‘Old Time Buddy’ when you go WOW, “this guy is flawless!”. Similar to Charmaine in Detective Investigation files you would never imagine she would even get to the level of ‘When Heaven Burns’. With Gallen was Carina’s ‘plank of wood date’ in Looking Back in Anger, you would never imagine he would get to the level of ‘Old Time Buddy’. It is amazing how things can transpire. Once upon a time, Gallen was playing under Deric as his younger brother in Vengence but a decade later is playing as the main lead and older brother ahead of Deric in a Golden Faith.
@jayne Very true about “The Breaking Point”, which was Deric’s next big role after BOGAE and in addition to it being his last villain role, it was also the only time he was cast as “second male lead” to a less competent actor (Leon) between the time of BOGAE’s success up through when he left (even in Vengeance, despite both Gallen and Vincent Wan overshadowing Deric in their respective roles, I see that as an unexpected outcome of the script rather than intentional casting issue). It’s possible that Deric was disheartened after that, contributing to his thought about not wanting to do villain roles, and thereafter taking up all “good guy” lead roles that were for the most part safe and boring….then his luck sort of ran out after that when his scandal broke, his career went downhill completely.
One thing I disagree with though is Deric not being suitable in ancient and comedy roles. In my opinion, he did well in both (though admittedly he didn’t film very many ancient series back then) and was one of the few actors at the time (in lead /second lead position) who was versatile enough to take on a variety of roles and still be convincing. I’ve actually enjoyed most of his comedies from back in those days but I think he probably preferred the dramatic roles to comedic ones.
@llwy12
Deric is definitely good at comedic roles. Can see totally in ‘A Good Match in Heaven’ and he was also the comic relief in ‘Golden Faith’. I remember how excited I was when Deric came back as a villain for ‘Misleading Track’ which turned out quite decent.
@jayne
“Cold Blood Warm Heart” is also one of my fave TVB series of all time. Deric’s character was really complex. But, I have to say, at that time I like his character in “Triangular Entanglement” more. I was into super good guy character at the time. Lol.
On Leon being lead of “The Breaking Point”. It can’t be help. Leon was a Heavenly King. Of course he will get lead and top billing. Even Sean Lau played second fiddle to him in series. I also wish Deric was the who played Leon’s character.
@kidd
Deric wasn’t in Cold Blood Warm Heart. The Male leads included Chilam, Adam Cheng, Louis Koo, Gallen and Eddie Cheung but no Deric. Sean Lau did act with Leon in ‘The Challenge of Life’ but I wouldn’t say it he was under Leon. They had similar screentime and sean’s character was very important. His acting was far better than Leon in the series. Also it is difficult to compare Sean with Deric since Deric was more popular at the time. Also Leon wasn’t made Heavenly King till 1992 and both ‘the Breaking Point’ and ‘the challenge of life’ were a couple of years before this so putting Leon over Deric is nothing to do with Heavenly King. Both series though have what I consider some of the best performances of all time. Both of them played Leon’s dad. Ming Sir as the loving dad in ‘The Breaking Point’ where his chemistry with Leon, Benz Hui, Kwan Hoi San and his employees were brilliant. In ‘The Challenge of Life’ Fong Kong (ATV Actor) was exceptional as the violent gangster. Too violent for TVB it seems since it was his only TVB series.
@jimmyszeto
Sorry, I mean to say ‘Blood of Good and Evil’.
@jimmyszeto Sean was most definitely the lead in The Challenge of Life. At most, we can say that Leon was second male lead over Frankie Lam, who was the 2nd main villain (since Fong Gong was the main villain), but Sean’s status was pretty obvious. I agree that most everyone gave brilliant performances in TCOL (which is another one of my all-time favorite TVB series), though in my opinion, the “weak link” was actually Monica Chan….Leon was fairly decent in this series (he emoted a lot better than the previous series he was in). Even Frankie, who I’ve always felt is hit and miss (if he gets a role that suits him, he does well but if not, his acting doesn’t live up to standards) did a decent job in this series….though absolutely Fong Gong killed it with his performance as the violent gangster / Leon’s long-lost dad (and yes, it’s TVB’s loss that Fong Gong never filmed much for them because he is absolutely a brilliant actor – to me, he doesn’t even need to “act” the villain because he can scare the living daylights out of people by merely looking at them, lol). Oh also stand-out performance from Wayne Lai as Cockroach (a role of his that I still remember and love, lol) who was actually a highlight of the series for me. In terms of female performances, both Kitty and Jacqueline were wonderful, as was the mom played by Ng Wan Yee (another green-leaf actress I love) – Monica, whose acting I’ve never felt was good, was billed as the lead (coming off her MHK win in 1989), but her performance was definitely the weakest (not unusual of course given that’s TVB’s usual pattern in terms of placing MHKs into series)….regardless though, I was still ok with her performance, probably because the rest of the cast was so good and the script was excellent, so her weak performance was overshadowed and don’t really notice as much. And you are absolutely right about Ming Sir in The Breaking Point, though to be honest, he has always been brilliant in all his roles (another favorite in terms of green-leaf actors).
@jimmyszeto Sean was most definitely the lead in The Challenge of Life. At most, we can say that Leon was second male lead over Frankie Lam, who was the 2nd main villain (since Fong Kong was the main villain), but Sean’s status was pretty obvious. I agree that most everyone gave brilliant performances in TCOL (which is another one of my all-time favorite TVB series), though in my opinion, the “weak link” was actually Monica Chan….Leon was fairly decent in this series (he emoted a lot better than the previous series he was in). Even Frankie, who I’ve always felt is hit and miss (if he gets a role that suits him, he does well but if not, his acting doesn’t live up to standards) did a decent job in this series…though absolutely Fong Kong nailed it with his performance as the violent gangster / Leon’s long-lost dad (and yes, it’s TVB’s loss that Fong Kong never filmed much for them because he is absolutely a brilliant actor – to me, he doesn’t even need to “act” the villain because he can scare the living daylights out of people by merely looking at them, lol). Oh also standout performance from Wayne Lai (a role of his that I still remember and love, lol) who was actually a highlight of the series for me. In terms of female performances, both Kitty and Jacqueline were wonderful, as was the mom played by Ng Wan Yee (another green-leaf actress I love) – Monica, whose acting I’ve never felt was good, was billed as the lead (coming off her MHK win in 1989), but her performance was definitely the weakest (not unusual of course given that’s TVB’s usual pattern in terms of placing inexperienced MHKs into series)…regardless though, I was still ok with her performance, probably because the rest of the cast was so good and the script was excellent, so her weak performance was overshadowed and don’t really notice as much. And you are absolutely right about Ming Sir in The Breaking Point, though to be honest, he has always been brilliant in all his roles (another favorite in terms of green-leaf actors).
@llwy12 surprising that he made the decision to never take on villain roles as his most famous roles at the time were in Blood of Good and Evil, Looking Back In Anger and The Breaking Point – two of whom were not just the run-of-the-mill villains but memorable ones. I guess he thought as someone who was leading man material, he would never play the leading character if he was the villain of the story.
@longhair84 Yup…that was the main reason (which makes sense given his personality) but another reason was that playing villains gave him a bad reputation, which is of course ironic given his subsequent relationship scandals (all of which gave him an even worse reputation). But of course he loosened up on this (either that or he forgot he ever said it, lol) because when he returned to TVB in the post 2000 era, he did play villains again in a few series…
@llwy12
I can understand Deric not wanting to play villains anymore at the time. He played villain roles one after another at the time. I could be he was afraid of being typecast. I also wish he could play more good guys roles at the time.
Lawrence Ng is another actor who hates playing villains. But, he didn’t go so far as Deric Wan as to outright reject all villain roles.
@kidd That’s true about Lawrence, though I will be honest and say that up until Healing Hands, most of Lawrence’s best and most memorable roles were as villains. For me, his villain roles in both The Feud Between Two Brothers and The Grand Canal are ones that I still remember to this day. Bobby Au Yeung kind of falls into the same category for me – I grew up watching him play villain / pseudo-villain roles as well as dramatic, serious roles so later when he got typecasted into comedic roles, I felt it was somewhat of a shame because I know how versatile he CAN be….this is also why nowadays I rejoice when I see Bobby playing “serious” non-comedic roles (which has honestly been very very rare in recent years).
Anyway, one thing’s for sure – we definitely had A LOT of versatile actors/actresses back in the day (80s/early 90s) so it’s no wonder that TVB was able to achieve such great success with their huge talent pool back then, though for me, it also means that seeing how much TVB has deteriorated in the past 20 years is even more depressing and sad…
@jayne
Everyone was overshadowed by the 4 Heavenly Kings. The 90’s were the world of the 4 Kings. But, I thought he could have reach the level of other popular non-Kings like Hacken Lee or Andy Hui.
Oh wow! Was Deric that great? I have watched some of his dramas many years ago but don’t recall being blown away by his acting or singing. What are the must watch dramas (ranked in order of awesomeness) and where can I watch them? I’d like to see what I’m missing.
@passingby
1. Blood of a Good and Evil
2. Looking Back in Anger
3. The Breaking Point
4. On the Edge
5. Vengence
6. Heroes of Shaolin
7. All about Tin
8.Conscience
9. A Good Match From Heaven
10. Misleading Track
@jimmyszeto thx ☺
@jimmyszeto
Do you remember One step Beyond? Was that the name of the series? I suddenly forgot but it was the funny series with D-icky in it. Deric was hilarious in there with D-icky and the rest of the cast.
@hetieshou love the songs from One Step Beyond. And Deric is so underrated. It’s a shame that all the good actors end up being “enemies” of TVB.
@longhair84
I agree and TVB is so bad that once any actor gains fame, they rarely ever come back to TVB. TVB is cheap as always though.
@jimmyszeto Absolutely agree with your list! That’s the same order I would’ve put all his series in as well, except I would also add sitcom City Japes, which would be #5 for me (definitely ahead of Vengeance, lol).
@passingby
For me, it’s the quality of his voice. I was attracted to his singing first before liking him as an actor. I remember first time listening to his song. His voice sent a warmth to my heart. Not many singers’ voice can do that. Of course, after I listen to more songs of his, I found that not all of his songs will have this effect. So, it also depends on whether the songs can present/ulitise this aspect of his voice well or not.
Do you guys remember him in The commandments with Vivian Chow? He was hilarious in there. I just love ancient comedy and it was one of the first ancient series that I saw of Deric and me of the few ancient series that Vivian Chow was ever in.
Slightly off topic, does anyone know if Law Lok Lum and his ex-wife are still living together? The last I heard from them, they were still happily sharing an apartment and staying cool as friends.
@elizabeth I believe so…last I heard (a couple months back) they were still living under the same roof. It didn’t sound like the arrangement was going to change any time soon.
@elizabeth
They are divorced? I thought they were still married? I find it sad that any couple divorces but still lives together. I personally would find that awkward. It is good if they can remain friends but living together is a different story.
He acted 3 series with Maggie Siu. Blood of Good and Evil, Conscience and The Breaking Point. I like Conscience better than the other two. Blood of Good and Evil is the one he had a happy ending with Maggie Siu.
@kk12345
You forgot ‘Looking Back in Anger’ where Deric wins Maggie over but had to sacrifice her to continue in pursuing for riches. One of the classic murder scenes. I’m glad moving trains keep their doors tight shut nowadays….
@jimmyszeto In the Breaking Point, the Leon Lai series, did Maggie Siu end up with Leon Lai or Deric Wan? Did Kathy Chow end up with Leon Lai? I can’t seem to remember who Deric Wan ended up with too.
@kk12345 I don’t remember the details but Leon Lai definitely did not end up w/Maggie Siu as I think she died at the end. As for who he ended up with, there was only Kathy Chow but I don’t know if they end up together. haha lol….Deric Wan probably died too no he was such a bad character. lol….
@wm2017 Thanks for reply. Series was too long ago and my brain was wondering what happened last time. Thanks again.
@kk12345 no problem, my mom was re-running it last year as she thinks the tvb series now are all trash. haha lol..so i look for an online site for her to watch but i didn’t really watch w/her but glimpsed bits and pieces but Leon Lai did look pretty good there but yes it was such a long series. I hope I remember it correctly. hahha I am sure others can will tell you otherwise if they know the real ending. 😀
Leon and Kathy took a break from each other and he left her. But my feeling that he will return to her.
@kk12345
Breaking Point (Spoilers ahead)
Watched it dozens of times so still remember. Maggie left a letter to Leon and emigrated to I think Canada since she was waiting for the application to process while in refugee camp. The reason being she chose to reunite with her younger brother abroad rather than stay and potentially marry Leon. Maggie came back since her brother died in a car accident and tried to get back with Leon but Leon refused since he was with Kathy. Maggie died in the end jumping in the path of a couple of gunshots coming at Leon from Deric. Kathy ended up with Leon. Deric pursuaded Leon’s dad’s suicide and accidentally killed his wife (Leon’s sister). He went full out to shoot Leon dead because earlier Leon had hit him on the head with an iron bar in revenge for causing his dad’s death which resulted in a brain blood clot. He had to rely on taking drugs because of the pain and refusal to have operation which could blind him. In a final tussle Deric is hanging off a building but refuses Leon’s help to save him and falls to his death.
@jimmyszeto Thanks for taking time to write the summary.
“Maggie left a letter to Leon and emigrated to I think Canada since she was waiting for the application to process while in refugee camp.”
Sorry may I ask why Maggie was in a refugee camp? She isn’t a hong kong citizen in the show is it?
@kk12345
yeh. Maggie started as a Vietnamese refugee. During the unstable period she managed to escape to Hong Kong while her little brother was stuck. Maggie met Leon through the the breaks they get on a daily basis to work outside the camp. Bobby Au-yeung was also in camp and had a crush on Maggie but he got killed.
@jimmyszeto Thanks for the summary.
Maggie was a Vietnamese refugee. She was originally from a rich family in South Vietnam, but only she and her younger brother survived with their bodyguard, Bobby (their dad was a general) but was separated so she and Bobby ended in HK Refugee camp.
Maggie had to leave for Australia (cos saw Sydney Opera House with snow which is hilarious) in order to apply for her brother to leave Vietnam. So she broke up with Leon to let her brother have a better life.
She never really felt accepted by Leon’s dad who was prejudiced against Vietnamese people. This was TVB’s way of showing the social conflict HK was in at the time regarding the fate of the Vienamese refugees.
@elizabeth Thanks for the summary.