SINGAPORE – Channel 8’s favourite police drama, C.L.I.F., will return for a fourth series later this year.

A lensing ceremony was held this morning (March 24) to mark the start of filming for the show, which continues to follow the lives of police officers played by actors including Rui En, Li Nanxing and Elvin Ng. This season, Rui En and Li’s pairing is freshened up with the addition of a child: Her character now has a four-month-old baby.

Rui En seems fully aware of the showbiz saying - “never work with children and animals”. “To be honest, I’m not really looking forward to working with the baby,” she quipped. “But with my on-screen husband (played by Li), it should be okay - he’s quite good with kids. I’m looking forward to playing a working mother for the first time and bringing out the conflict between work and private life.”

While Rui En has traded in the carefree life for motherhood, Ng has traded in the motorbike he rode in the first season for a bicycle - and a new uniform that includes short pants.

“I’m supposed to look suave, but I have ended up looking cute - or sexy,” he said, gesturing to his bare legs. “It feels like I’m back in secondary school: I have to tuck my shirt in and I keep pulling my shorts down. You know how someone might say, ‘Last time it was cheaper to use the toilet’ and the other person might reply: ‘Yeah, last time policemen wore shorts’? Well, it has come full circle!”

New additions to the cast include Zhang Yao Dong, Yusuke Fukuchi, Mei Xin and Ya Hui, who said that being a police officer had always been top of her list of dream roles, because “you look very serious and cool when you’re investigating”.

She is more than happy to don a uniform for the first time in her career, in spite of the fact that “after I put it on, I felt I had to stand very straight and be proper in my actions. And I dare not smile too much,” she said, adding: “I think my mum will think I look very cool. She initially wanted me to be a police woman.”

Catch C.L.I.F 4 starting Sep 6, weekdays at 9pm on Mediacorp TV Channel 8.