Rebecca Lim Might Have Quit Showbiz If Not For The Pupil

Before Rebecca Lim auditioned for the part of rookie lawyer Wendy Lim in The Pupil, Channel 5’s first legal drama, more than a decade ago, she was at a crossroads.

Then 22, Rebecca was studying full-time at SMU and acting part-time. “In my final year of university, I was thinking whether I should continue to pursue this acting career or use my accountancy degree and law major to find a normal job,” Rebecca tells 8days.sg via WhatsApp.

“I was auditioning so much then,” she adds. “I got called back perhaps one out of 20 [times]?” So she started sending out resumes to the banks and auditing firms, hoping they would come back to her with an offer.

And then came the opportunity to read for The Pupil. “I thought, ‘Hey, it’s a pupil role, I’m majoring in law, sounds like a good 50-50 chance.’”

She continues, “The many failed auditions along the way made me go in with the mentality to just give my all. ’Cause the worst that can happen will be to get rejected again — and I’ve been there.”

We all know what happened next: Rebecca snagged the part — her first leading role, no less — and the rest is history. “That was the show that made me fall in love with acting,” she says.

For Lee Thean-Jeen, the creator of The Pupil — which also starred Adrian Pang, Janice Koh and Lim Kay Tong — the series would be the first building block in what would become a shared universe of interlinked shows that include Code of Law, Derek, and Forensik. The fifth and latest (and possibly the last?) season of Code of Law premiered early this month.

“What we’ve tried to do with all the shows is to make them as relatable as possible to the person-on-the-street,” Lee Thean-Jeen, or TJ as he’s commonly known to his friends and collaborators, of the shows’ popularity.

Law-maker: Lee Thean-Jeen of Weiyu Film, the creator of ‘The Pupil’, ‘Code of Law’, ‘Derek’ and ‘Forensik’. How big a legal drama is he? “I used to read John Grisham novels in my younger days … does that count?,” Thean-Jeen says. “My taste in dramas is actually quite rojak — I watch anything from Scandi-noir to K-dramas to local dramas in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.”

“Even though we’re dealing with the criminal justice and legal system, an aspect of Singapore life that many of us don’t directly experience (and, hopefully, will never have to), the issues that surround the cases — family, friendship, money, love and passion, etc — are universal in nature, says TJ who also worked on the hawker centre-themed 128 Circle, the murder mystery The Bridge (again starring Rebecca), and the Pierre Png-led vigilante thriller Zero Calling.

Here, we get to cross-examine TJ for his favourite moments in making The Pupil and its off-shoots

“The first local English drama series on the legal profession” — as creator and executive producer Lee Thean-Jeen pitched it to Mediacorp — stars Rebecca Lim in her breakout role as Wendy Lim, the titular rookie lawyer at the prestigious (and fictional) firm Roberts & Fong, with Adrian Pang as her cynical mentor. The series lasted two seasons. Funny enough, Rebecca and Adrian were real-life law grads as was Season 2 alum George Young.

8 DAYS: Rebecca Lim once said she was this close to giving up on showbiz because she wasn’t happy with the kind of roles she was getting then. Then The Pupil came and changed things around — it rejuvenated her love for acting. What do you remember the most about her audition?

LEE THEAN-JEEN: I remember two things: one, she was honest. Strange as it may sound, honesty is hard to capture on camera because so much of film — and television — making is illusory. But by the time she finished the read, the awkward, self-effacing Wendy Lim was her and she was Wendy. Two, she gave 200 per cent. And she’s still every bit a trooper and a true professional today. If you’re going to be stuck on a set with someone for 3-4 months, you can’t do better than Rebecca Lim.

Author and lawyer Adrian Tan was the consultant on the show. How closely did you work with him on the script? Did he tell you things you should avoid in a Singaporean legal drama?

Adrian gave us — the writing team — several briefings on the legal system in Singapore. He also took us on a couple of visits to actual court hearings. And he was consulted on the cases and courtroom scenes in the show.

You probably get asked about this countless times: Why wasn’t there a third season?

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that question...

Showrunner’s favourite moments:

/ The pilot episode that introduced The Pupil gang to Singapore. We also opened with an interesting case, where Bobby Tonelli played an NS defaulter.

/ Season 1: Episode 12 had Richard Low playing a Chinese medium being taken to court. Richard is more widely known for his comedic roles, but he gave a very compelling performance here. We brought him back in Season 2: Episode 3.

/ Season 2: Episode 11 was a what-if scenario that evolved from a uniquely Singaporean aspect of life — tissue-paper choping.

While The Pupil deals with civil law, its first spin-off centres on criminal law, with Joanne Peh, Oon Shu An and Keagan Kang as the legal eagles. (Rebecca did drop in for a cameo.) Sunny Pang and Fauzie Laily co-star as Inspector Han and SSgt Razali, the cops who often clash with the counsels. Season 4 introduces Desmond Tan’s Derek Ho, the Patrick Bateman-meets-Dexter Morgan-sque serial killer who would have his own sequel.

When I think of The Pupil, I think of Rebecca Lim. In Code of Law, I think of Joanne Peh and Oon Shu An. Did you set out to make a female-led drama series?

I think of Code of Law as more of an ensemble piece, really. You could say it’s a character-led legal drama.

Before Code of Law, we were used to seeing Sunny Pang as the bad guy. To have him as Inspector Han — the good guy — here is a breath of fresh air. What made you think Sunny would be a good cop?

I was actually introduced to Sunny Pang in person before I became familiar with his work; he was working as a bouncer at a place in River Valley, if I remember correctly. He was really down-to-earth and worldly. So my initial impression of him was more “good guy” than “bad”! We had to campaign to get him on board Code Of Law as Inspector Han because, as you pointed out, everyone was used to seeing him as the bad guy. But he has such a humanity about him. Today, I still wonder why people keep making him a sneering villain.

To serve and to protect: Sunny Panny as Inspector Han and Fauzie Laily as his partner SSgt Razali in 'Code' of Law'.

Code of Law deals with criminal law. Were there stories that were too outrageous which didn’t make the cut?

As for cases in Code of Law, it was usually the more outrageous cases that made it into the series. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. When we get a viewer commenting, “That could never happen,” I’m usually thinking, “It actually did.

Code of Law featured the earliest appearances by Benjamin Kheng, Vanessa Vanderstraaten, Nat Ho, Nurul Aini, Jayley Woo, and Aaron Khaled. What’s the first story about them that come to mind?

The one thing they had in common was they all burned up the screen, even though they were in guest appearances. I remember thinking, I’ll probably never work with these people again after this … because they’re all going to be too busy to take my calls! And with one or two exceptions, that’s actually been true. I wouldn’t venture to say Code of Law was the launching pad for their careers, but we had to be on the constant lookout for new, burgeoning talent because of the show’s premise — I mean, being the ‘Victim of the Week’ or ‘the Accused with a death sentence’ greatly reduces your chance of a repeat appearance on the show. However, in later seasons, we decided we should bring good actors back to the show, even if they played different roles, trusting our audience to make that leap with us.

Showrunner’s favourite moments:

/ Season 1: Episode 1. Because it was the very first episode of Code of Law. And we did a callback to the first scene in that episode — SSgt Razali buying Insp Han coffee — in the first scene of Code of Law: Final, with SSgt Isaac Tan (Ian Fang) buying Insp Razali coffee.

/ Season 2 Episode 7 was a heartwrenching case of a young boy found poisoned in his sleep, guest starring Brandon Wong and Tracer Wong. (8 DAYS gave us a Bravo for it, way back when … thank you!)

/ Season 3: Episode 11, where we broke away from the series style and filmed it as a ‘found footage’ episode. The biggest creative challenge was trying to figure out how to bring viewers into the private conversations at the lawyer’s offices and into court.

/ Season 4: Episode 10, where Derek is hunted down and captured by the police. Truth be told, one iteration of Derek’s story arc that we toyed with was to have him shot and killed there. How different things might have been...

Playing like a two-and-a-half hour movie (split into 10 bite-size eps), the part sequel, part prequel looks at the now-incarcerated Derek Ho’s (Desmond Tan)’s early homicidal days as well as his (ob)sessions with Cheryl Chitty Tan’s Winnie Low, a psychologist with her own closet of skeletons. Season 2 is a prequel to a prequel, introducing Jae Liew as Derek’s lover/accomplice via the season finale of Forensik, the Code of Law-adjacent Suria series.

What kind of notes did you give Desmond to play Derek?

We gave Desmond a very detailed character bio for Derek Ho, from the time he [Derek] was a child to the present. And then we had several conversations about Derek’s life and worldview. I felt it was more important for him to understand the character from the inside than reference another character. Although by definition Derek is a serial killer, we had to understand what that meant in a Singapore context, since there hasn’t actually been a Singapore serial killer like him. Yet.

You can’t talk about Derek without once mentioning Desmond’s infamous butt-naked scene. What’s your side of the story? Was there a longer cut?

Quite honestly, that moment came out of some research I had done on suicidal prison inmates crafting a noose from their overalls. It was, for me, a character and a narrative moment, so I was quite surprised at the exposure, no pun intended, it ended up getting. What ended up on screen is pretty much what was shot. There were maybe a few seconds we trimmed from the head and tail … maybe...

What was the most challenging scene for you?

The intimate scenes with Derek and Stephanie — Derek’s first love played by Chantelle Ng — were nerve-racking for me as a director: I was worried about Chantalle because I was responsible for — I believe — her first on-screen kiss, and also not least because I had worked with her mother [Lin Meijiao] on The Pupil! We went through the scenes in great detail before each shoot, planning and choreographing — it turned out to be more complex than some of the action scenes in Code of Law. But looking back, I doubt anyone in her peer group could’ve breathed life into that character the way Chantalle did.

Showrunner’s favourite moments:

/ There is this scene at the end of Ep 10, which I won’t spoil for viewers who have yet to see it. It’s the final turning point of Derek’s relationship with his first love, Stephanie An Meiling (played by Chantalle Ng) — the biggest emotional moment of the entire show — and when it came to shooting it, we were up against fading sunlight, the vagaries of weather and a very warm and muggy forest clearing … with bugs. But Desmond and Chantelle pulled it off.

/ Jae Liew as Jessie and Ceci Sun in Season 2. If you haven’t already guessed, Jae plays a pair of twins. There’s a moment at the end of Episode 2 where Jessie and Ceci end up committing a murder together. It was, in my opinion, the toughest scene of the entire show and it had to be shot on the first day of shoot. All I can say is, Jae — and Jae— nailed it. Watching that scene — and Jae’s performance — you completely forget it’s the same actress playing against herself. Actually, you forget it’s an actress playing a role. Period.

Double act: Jae Liew plays the former lover and accomplice of serial killer Derek Ho (Desmond Tan).

The Suria spin-off focuses on the exploits of crime scene specialist Juliana Hamid (Yuslina Yussof) who has a personal relationship with Inspector Razali (Fauzie Laily). The great Wan Hanafi Su plays Juliana’s father, an ex-cop hiding a secret that can destroy the family and derail the career of Juliana’s boss (Sharon Ismail). The final episode introduces Ian Fang as SSgt Isaac Tan, the latest addition to the Code of Law universe. To be continued in Code of Law: Final.

What led to this spin-off?

Forensic crime scene specialists were a recurring feature in the Code of Law episodes. [Executive Producer] Lim Bee Lin and I had been discussing the idea of doing a series about them. At one point, we thought, what if we produce the spin-off in Malay, for Suria? We’re grateful that Mediacorp also saw the potential in the idea.

Did the language make the production any different than Code of Law’s?

Although they were part of the same universe, so to speak, we wanted Forensik — and the Derek series — to have their own distinct look, so the differences in the production approach came out of that objective, not because of the fact it was in Malay.

Is there a story behind casting Ian Fang as a cop?

We had never seen Ian as a police officer, so we thought it might be interesting to challenge him with a role like this. In fact, when we met him to discuss the character, he revealed this was indeed his first role ever as a cop.

Showrunner’s favourite moments:

/ There’s a scene in Episode 3 where Juliana (Yuslina Yussof) takes Razali (Fauzie Laily) to a rock climbing gym. He’s supposed to be a newbie at climbing (with a fear of heights), but as it turned out Fauzie was an experienced rock climber! So the greatest challenge for him in that scene was to act like he didn’t know how to rock climb.

/ The scenes with Wan Hanafi Su (who played Kamal) were a highlight of the series for me. We were fortunate to get him on the series: he’s not on social media, doesn’t have WhatsApp or an e-mail account. So we had to snail mail the series synopsis to him in Terengganu, where he lives.

/ The last episode of Forensik is a case that, while self-contained within the series itself, provides us with a narrative link to Derek II.

All roads lead to this — the fifth (and final?) season. Even The Pupil regulars Adrian Pang and Janice Koh are back for the encore (or send-off?). So, is this really the end of the franchise? Or the beginning of a new chapter? Stick around and find out.

Code of Law: Final is like the franchise’s Avengers: Endgame. Besides Adrian Pang and Janice Koh, who else from the earlier series did you want to bring back?

The process of developing Code of Law: Final was a very organic one, as it had to encompass what we were also doing with the spin-offs, Derek and Forensik. When we crafted Final, we already had certain characters in mind. So it was really more a case of moving forward, rather than looking back, where characters were concerned.

What did you do in this season which you had not done in the previous series?

Before Code of Law: Final, the series was very case-oriented. We’ve retained the focus on the cases, but given most of the main characters their own arcs as well. So this season is packed with story. On a more cosmetic level, we overhauled the look of the show and this season, we have a new theme song and opening titles.

After 10 years of Code of Law, do you know enough to be a lawyer?

I know enough to be a lawyer on TV! But 10 years of Code of Law has made me admire and respect real lawyers — especially criminal lawyers — and what they do.

Do real lawyers and cops give you feedback about the show?

Real lawyers have actually asked us if they can cameo on the show. Our response is, are you going to bill us hourly?

What’s your favourite legal term?

I don’t know if this counts as a legal term, but I love the way ‘affidavit’ sounds in a line of dialogue. It’s a fascinating four-syllable word that basically refers to a piece of paper. ‘Sworn affidavit’ is icing on the cake.

Showrunner’s favourite moments:

/ The first courtroom scenes with Dennis Tang and Angela Ang. It was great to see Adrian Pang and Janice Koh back in lawyers' robes again.

/ The interaction between Inspector Sam Dass (Jitenram Kiran Bala) and SSgt Miki Lee (Michelle Wong). These two characters have matured and the two actors have developed a chemistry between them.

/ Episode 15 — for reasons that will become apparent when we get to the end ...

The Pupil, Code of Law, Derek and Forensik are streaming on meWATCH. Code of Law: Final airs Mondays, Channel 5, 9.30pm; it's also on meWATCH.