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HBO Asia Brings You Back with Serangoon Road!

By InCinemas / 18 Sep 2013 (Wednesday)

HBO Asia’s first original drama series Serangoon Road takes its name from one of the earliest roads built in Singapore.

Premiering this Sunday, 22 September, the series features a star-studded international cast including Hollywood movie star Joan Chen, Hollywood-based Singapore actor Chin Han, Australia’s Don Hany, Alaric Tay and Pamelyn Chee.

Serangoon Road is a period drama series set in the 1960s of Singapore and was largely shot in Batam, Indonesia and places in Singapore such as the streets of Katong and Raffles Hotel.

Having worked with Hollywood productions such as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Singaporean actor Chin Han still loves working in Singapore.

“Singapore is my home. So when the producers spoke to me about this (Serangoon Road) during one of my breaks, it seems like a great opportunity to be home and work at the same time, so that was really attractive for me,” he said during the press conference held at Raffles Hotel.

In terms of preparing for the role, local actor Alaric Tay mentioned that it was essential for the cast to strike a good balance of the kind of English used. For his character as a former Communist, Kang, he said, “I went with a rather naturalistic tone rather than an American accent or Singlish-English, something that was neutral enough to cross boundaries.”

Usually known for more comedic roles, such as news anchor Andre Chichak in local hit-show The Noose, he hopes that audiences will ‘look at him with a fresh eye’ to appreciate ‘Kang’ in the series.

“The audience will definitely see a different side to usually what they are accustomed to, I think for both the audience and myself , that’s the hurdle that we have to get past.” he added

Besides Tay, actress Pamelyn Chee who plays Su Ling in Serangoon Road revealed that she watched British-period series to help better shape her character whom she describes as ‘the unlikely romantic heroine’.

“Her (Su Ling) accent is somewhat British but it isn’t completely British because she is still Asian. I watched a lot of Downton Abbey as that sounded more proper and close of what I wanted to sound like,” she said.

Although Joan Chen wasn't present at the press conference, the cast all sang praises for her professionalism on set.

Hany who plays a detective in Chen's character's agency said: "She's very generous and I think we are all really fortunate for us to have come together to make a TV show to something that sort of stands up to a lot in cinemas."

"And she's a good kisser!"

Serangoon Road premieres on HBO (StarHub TV Ch 601) and HBO HD (StarHub TV Ch 655) on September 22 at 9pm. New episodes will air weekly at the same time.

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HBO Asia Brings You Back with Serangoon Road!