What’s to fear for cast of Life — Fear Not?

SINGAPORE – The 255-episode drama 118 will be coming to an end on MediaCorp TV Channel 8 in October and taking over its 7.30pm time slot will be another long-form drama.

Titled Life – Fear Not, it stars Chen Shucheng as the proprietor of a traditional guest house and the father of children played by Rayson Tan, Aileen Tan, Felicia Chin and Aloysius Pang. Also part of the cast are Chen Liping, who plays the inn manager and real-life husband Rayson love interest; Zhang Yaodong, who plays an ex-convict and is the love interest of Chin’s; and Carrie Wong, who plays Pang’s love interest. Other cast members include Zheng Geping, Brandon Wong, Lin Mei Jiao, Jeffrey Xu and Bonnie Loo.

The ensemble cast has just embarked on a six-month-long filming journey, but as with most long-form serials, they don’t yet know how the story is going to pan out several episodes down the road, since the script is still being written. Might their characters be disfigured, unceremoniously killed off, or, worst of all, exiled to another country? We asked some of the actors to speculate on the worst thing they could imagine happening to their characters.

ZHANG YAODONG: “(I think) my character will get sent overseas. When there are too many characters, different episodes will focus on different characters, so when the camera’s on you, you just do your best! Or getting kidnapped or murdered. My character died a terrible death in my last long-form drama, Your Hand In Mine. I had to jump from a building and, with a broken, twisted leg and a face full of blood, do a romance scene – Joanne Peh came to say ‘I love you’. That was the worst!”

CARRIE WONG: “Getting pregnant. That’s the worst thing that could happen to a young lady in a drama! According to the plan, Aloysius and I will get married, but they might get me pregnant before that. (Laughs) But they’re not sure yet. And I hear he will become handicapped – I think he’s looking forward to that. I wish it were me instead – that’s something I’ve never tried before. I would like to be disfigured or knocked down by a car – something challenging. That’s the fun thing about a long form drama – you can come up with ideas and nothing is confirmed.”

ALOYSIUS PANG: “They’re discussing the possibility of that. They haven’t decided which body part – might be the hands; might be the legs. (If it were up to me) I’d pick hand. The left hand. No, no – the right hand. I’m right-handed, so it will all look very natural. (For example) I can’t use chopsticks with my left hand.”

FELICIA CHIN: “That I’ll fall in love with my brother. (Laughs) Towards the end there’ll be a huge twist in the plot. I have a lot of squabbling scenes with Aloysius, who plays my little brother. I’m kind of enjoying it, but let’s see what happens six months down the road!”

CHEN LIPING: “I’ve been acting for so many years – there’s no need to worry about anything! The most important thing is that the audience likes it. No matter the show, everyone puts in effort.”

Life - Fear not premieres Oct 19 at 7.30pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.