No Regrets (TV series)


No Regrets is a 2010 Hong Kong period television drama created and produced by Lee Tim-shing for TVB. Set in Canton, Republic of China during the years of the Second Sino-Japanese War, it follows the lives of Lau Sing and Cheng Kau-mui, who go against all odds to protect their families from the violence of war.
No Regrets is the companion piece of Rosy Business. It premiered on Jade and HD Jade networks from 18 October 2010 and aired for 32 episodes, with the final two episodes airing back-to-back on 28 November 2010. It was one of two anniversary dramas used to celebrate TVB's 43rd anniversary in 2010, the other being Gun Metal Grey. Both dramas were the first Hong Kong dramas to broadcast live with English subtitles.
The drama received critical acclaim during its broadcast, and is the second highest-rated television drama in 2010. The final episode peaked at 47 TVRs with 3.43 million live viewers, becoming Hong Kong's most-watched episode of the 2010s decade. No Regrets received multiple awards at the TVB Anniversary Awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Most Improved Actor.

Premise

Set in the late 1930s to late 1940s in Canton, Republic of China during World War II, No Regrets is an epic drama that centers on a triad family, the Canton police force, and the Japanese occupation of the city. The Chinese title of No Regrets literally translates to "Veiled Heroine, Ruthless Hero: Righteous Sea, Heroic Passion", referring to both the chaotic period of war and the complicated relationship shared by the two main characters, Cheng Kau-mui and Lau Sing. The drama and cast received eleven TVB Anniversary Award nominations, winning five of them. The awards include Best Actress for Tang, Best Actor for Lai, Best Supporting Actress for Fala Chen, Best Supporting Actor for Mak Cheung-ching, and Most Improved Male Artiste for Raymond Wong Ho-yin. Meanwhile, No Regrets also gains other awards and achievement, including all four Mingpao Weekly awards for TV programmes, the first Shanghai Television Festival nomination for a Hong Kong TV drama and two awards for supporting actors at Asian Television Awards.

Synopsis

Canton is in a state of political turmoil in the 1930s. Gangsters are on a rampage and opium trading becomes rampant. As they watch the illicit profits from opium trading escalate, the government forms the Anti-Smoking Bureau under the guise of suppressing opium, but the bureau is under the influence of Cheng Long-kwan, the gang's kingpin. His eldest daughter Cheng Kau-mui who is an unscrupulous person soon returns from Shanghai to reap the rewards. Mui meticulously plans her every move.
On the other hand, Lau Sing is the leader of the Criminal Investigation Team. He has worked hard all his life to ensure an easy trail for his family. Despite his hot temper, he values friendship and brotherhood more than anything else. Once, he almost sacrificed his life to help his timid teammate, Spareribs.
Meanwhile, the Japanese army invades China and Canton falls into the hands of the Japanese. Mui enters the darkest time in her life when her aunt Cheng Long-hei frames her.

Production

Development and filming

After the critical and popular success of Rosy Business, TVB decided to produce a sequel for the drama. Most of the original main cast signed on to film the sequel, with the exception of Kiki Sheung, Ron Ng, and Suki Chui, who were reported to be not taking part in the production due to schedule conflicts. While the production was labeled as a sequel, the term was only a namesake. Wayne Lai, who portrayed Chai Kau in the predecessor, expressed that he would not film a sequel to Rosy Business: "I do not wish . Chai Kau's ending was the most significance part of his life. He will not appear in this world again." Many of the cast members expressed that the ending to Rosy Business was perfect, and that there was no need to film a sequel.
A sales presentation trailer of No Regrets featuring majority of the original cast was filmed on 25 October 2009 in TVB's filming studio in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong. The three-minute trailer aired on the TVB Jade channel on 6 December 2009 during TVB's 42nd Gala Presentation, and received an overwhelmingly positive reception. 50 random locals were interviewed in the streets, and 58% chose No Regrets as their most anticipated drama of 2010. Several Mainland China news portals also listed No Regrets as one of the top 15 for most anticipating upcoming Hong Kong/Taiwanese dramas.
A costume fitting was held on 10 March 2010 in the TVB studios. Filming began on 25 March 2010 and ended on 19 July 2010.

Cast and characters

Main

Known as Miss Kau, she is the only daughter of Cheng Long-kwan, the most powerful drug tycoon in Canton. Holding a deep hatred for drugs, Miss Kau hopes to gain full control of her father's expansive opium business in order to destroy it from within. Tang expressed that it took her a while to grasp Miss Kau's character. "Her character is extremely complex. She doesn't abide to one direction; she may be doing one thing, but she's actually thinking of doing something else in her head. She's an extremely manipulative woman." Tang describes Miss Kau and Sing's romantic relationship as "extremely complicated; there's love and hate, right and wrong; and most of the time, they oppose each other."
The intuitive, sharp-tongued captain of a police crew in Canton. Working together to protect their families from the spoils of war, Sing develops a strong bond with Miss Kau throughout the years. Lai considers No Regrets to be his representative work. He describes Sing to be a man with a sad fate.
Nicknamed Ching Ching, she is Sing's younger sister who suffers from a congenital heart disease. She has feelings for Yeung Yeung, but is afraid to act on them due to the instability of her illness.
A member of Sing's police crew. Yeung Yeung's mother owns an apartment in Chu Lung Lei, in which Sing is a tenant. Thoughtful and selfless, Yeung Yeung always puts Ching Ching's needs before his own.
Nicknamed Spareribs, a metaphorical phrase for "skinny weakling", Spareribs is Sing's subordinate and housemate. Unlike Ngo's portrayal of the villainous Chiang Bit-man in Rosy Business, Spareribs is a much simpler and kinder character. He has no ambition in life, and becomes a police officer only because he wants to live a steady life.

Supporting

The following is a table that includes a list of the total ratings points based on television viewership. "Viewers in millions" refers to the number of people, derived from TVB Jade ratings, in Hong Kong who watched the episode live. The peak number of viewers are in brackets.
WeekEpisodeAverage pointsPeaking pointsViewers AIReferences
1
1
32
36
2.07
—
1
2 — 5
31
34
2.01
94%
2
6 — 10
31
34
2.01
93%
3
11 — 15
32
35
2.07
94%
4
16 — 20
33
37
2.14
95%
5
21 — 24
34
38
2.20
95%
6
25 — 29
34
—
2.20
94%
6
30
35
36
2.27
94%
6
31
44
47
2.85
99%

Critical reception

Although No Regrets has more elements of romance than Rosy Business, the undying and unspoken love between the main leads touched the audience and was very well received. On the other hand, people felt that the romance between the second leads was dry and draggy. The drama was praised for being 'fresh' as it is not often that one gets to see war, rivalry, love for one's country and even history in a Hong Kong drama. Also, the style of directing, editing and even the music have gone way beyond the standard of Hong Kong dramas, with many people liking it to an epic movie. The acting skills of Sheren Tang, Wayne Lai, Ngo Ka-nin were praised for being versatile and vastly different from their characters in the prequel, Rosy Business. Mak Cheung-ching was also given credit for playing such a hated character so convincingly that his catch-phrase "My name Leung Fei Fan will be written backwards!" was widely used. There were many people playing the role of Japanese soldiers in No Regrets. They did not have any Japanese background, but persevered in using Japanese to film their scenes. Their professionalism has won the praise of both the viewers and producer himself.
However, some netizens found that the props used in that era were not right and did not really bring out the chaotic times of that era. The drama's female lead, Tang, has also lambasted TVB for stinging on production values, which made the set look unconvincing.
The finale episode had 3 million Hong Kong TV viewers, and resulted in an unprecedented zero share of ratings for rival Asia Television, which was airing a gospel programme at the time. The series was the highest-rated TVB drama of 2010.
It also attracted unprecedented 3,739,955 clicks in MyTV, 5 times runner-up Some Day, and the highest ever in MyTV record. Each episode attracted more than 1 million clicks on average.
It also received the best rating in Guangzhou, with 1,710,000 viewers and 60% share of ratings; the runner-up had 5%.
After winning the Best Actor and Best Actress awards for Rosy Business, Wayne Lai and Sheren Tang successfully defended their titles based on their brilliant performance in this drama respectively. Lai became the second actor to win the Best Actor award consecutively after Gallen Lo in 1997 and 1998, while Tang became the first actress in TVB to win the Best Actress award consecutively. Both of them became the first ever couple in TVB's history to win the awards consecutively based on the same drama franchise.
After sweeping the main acting awards in the 2010 TVB Anniversary Awards ceremony, No Regrets was expected to take home the Best Drama award. However, the award went to Can't Buy Me Love unexpectedly, shocking everybody who was present. Complaints were lodged immediately after the ceremony ended, with many people saying that No Regrets should have won because of its high ratings as well as critical acclaim it had garnered during its broadcast.
The drama was such a huge success that talks of having a third sequel with the original cast and crew were under way. The proposed drama, tentatively named as Rosy Business III, was slated to start filming in April 2012. Although plans for it have fallen through as the drama's script-editor, Cheung Wah Biu, would not be returning to TVB, there will be another script-editor, Ip Kwong-yam, to helm the script and the plans were resumed, with the new female leading role as Myolie Wu. Filming for Rosy Business III began in March 2013.

Historical elements

The period drama follows the lives of fictional characters in the Chinese city of Canton between 1936 and 1949. With Wayne Lai portraying the righteous police officer Lau Sing and Sheren Tang portraying a goodwilled daughter of a triad boss holding a facade to save people, No Regrets includes some of the biggest issues and historical events during the time when the drama is set. It has a focus on opium, the drug that many Chinese people were addicted to at the time, supplied by notorious dealers. The police force were corrupt and feared the triads, and this is portrayed in the drama.
Then No Regrets focuses on the Japanese Occupation of China in 1937, and portrays the lives of the Chinese during the Occupation. After the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1945, civil war ensues, which, as portrayed at the latter part of the drama, affects the triads and directly affects Miss Kau; she held a facade as a ruthless opium dealer and a woman who cooperated with the Japanese Imperial Army for an opium business, when the new government of the Chinese Communist Party takes control of the People's Republic of China.
The period drama therefore portrays life in Canton before the Sino-Japanese War during the mid-1930s, the Japanese Occupation between 1937 and 1945, the civil war and the establishment of the People's Republic of China which brings the drama to a climax as the leads who share a romantic relationship are split apart. Miss Kau, a former notorious drug dealer and "traitor" to the country, flies to Honolulu via Hong Kong, and Lau Sing, who, after a twist of fate, remains within Mainland China with amnesia, joins the Korean War of the early 1950s, restores his memory and attempts unsuccessfully to swim to Hong Kong and leave for Honolulu to seek his beloved Miss Kau after the gates were closed between Mainland China and Hong Kong. The drama concludes with Miss Kau and Lau Sing reuniting in 1979 in Canton, and living life together in the early 1980s in Hong Kong and in traveling.

Awards and nominations

International broadcast