SINGAPORE — Filming for part two of the The Journey trilogy, MediaCorp’s blockbuster series chronicling the history of Singapore, commenced on Friday with a lensing ceremony.

The Journey: Tumultuous Times picks up a generation on, spanning the 1940s to 1960s. And, as the title suggests, the action includes unstable periods such as the Japanese Occupation, the Hock Lee bus riots and Singapore’s merger with Malaysia. Chen Hanwei, Shaun Chen, Felicia Chin, Romeo Tan, Andie Chen, Brandon Wong and Carrie Wong join the original cast of The Journey: A Voyage.

Desmond Tan and Jeanette Aw play older versions of their characters Shi Tou and Yazi, while Jeanette also plays their daughter. It is her fifth time playing dual mother-daughter roles.

“I think it’s quite an honour that the executive producers and scriptwriters believe I have the ability to juggle two characters because it’s quite a challenge to be able to make a very clear differentiation between the two,” said Jeanette.

Shaun plays the long-lost son of Hui Niang and Tian Ying (played in The Journey: A Voyage by Joanne Peh and Allen Chen respectively). “This is a blockbuster and I think the role is not bad because (I play) a hoodlum, so I think it’ll be more lively and unrestricted,” he said.

His character’s adoptive sister, played by Felicia, gets embroiled in a love triangle with Romeo and Andie’s characters. “I’ve been acting for 10 years, but this is my first period drama,” Felicia said. “I’m getting used to it because I haven’t been doing such demure roles for a while. I kind of like it ... when I first started out, my roles were pretty demure. It has been a while since audiences have seen me quiet and emoting.”

Andie, who plays Shi Tou and Yazi’s leftist son, was asked multiple times to play the role before he finally agreed to leave his eight-months-pregnant wife, Kate Pang, at home in Taiwan. He plans to fly there as soon as the baby shows signs of arriving.

“I already bought a (plane) ticket. We’ll be shooting in Ipoh. Once I get to Ipoh, I’ll be contacting like seven cab drivers and having them on standby. At any time, I’ll rush over. I’m very determined to make it to see the delivery,” Andie said, revealing that Kate had opted for a home birth without pain-relief medication. “She’s looking forward to eating pizza and watching TV while in labour. That’s her imagination, lah. Let’s see how the real thing will look like,” he quipped.

But Andie considers Tumultuous Times a worthwhile project as it deals with national history and is therefore “a very important show”. “Because of this show, I read up a lot about our history — Chinese history and British history — and how it all linked up. Even for my generation, (those years are) a little distant for me and I cannot imagine (what it will be like) for the next generation, even for my kid.” He added: “I’m quite attracted to nationalistic shows.”

Catch The Journey: Tumultuous Times from Nov 24, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.