Old hair, new beginnings in The Journey: Our Homeland

SINGAPORE — MediaCorp TV Channel 8 drama The Journey: Our Homeland, the third and last instalment of The Journey trilogy based on the events of Singapore history, covers a lot of ground from the 1970s to the ‘80s, including the end of colonialism and the Hotel New World collapse.

Those were difficult scenes to film but the most challenging part of the show, if you believe the actors, was wearing period hairpieces.

“The toughest part was all the wigs we wore,” said Ian Fang, only slightly tongue-in-cheek. “We’d look at one another and laugh: ‘Wow, Jeffrey, you really look like a girl.’ The wigs were really itchy, too. We would scratch our scalps with a comb.”

“We’d go and buy dry shampoo because it’s quite itchy after a whole day of filming,” added Romeo Tan.

The events of Our Homeland pick up where Tumultuous Times left off and follows the offspring of the characters played by Felicia Chin, Andie Chen and Romeo Tan. The new generation are played by Rebecca Lim, Ian Fang, Shane Pow, Julie Tan, Cheryl Wee and Jeffrey Xu.

Also in the cast are Zhang Zhen Huan, James Seah, Aileen Tan and Darren Lim.

This season also sees the addition of Rui En, who plays the love interest of Shaun Chen’s character, Zhang Jia. “Yang Meixue is a new character. She has no links to the characters of the previous season,” said Rui En, adding that the role grew on her as filming progressed. “The more I played her, the more I appreciated the character because I think she is a good representative of the women of that era,” she said, explaining that Meixue has to juggle the demands of her work as a nurse with her familial duties.

Being in the show has given the cast a better appreciation of Singapore’s nation-building history. “We watched Lee Kuan Yew’s funeral while filming in Penang and that’s when I thought, ‘It’s a real honour to be a part of The Journey: Our Homeland’,” said Julie Tan. “It has helped me understand Singapore better and to appreciate how hard our forefathers worked. It really makes you appreciate each and every person around you all the more.”

Catch The Journey: Our Homeland starting July 16, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.