SINGAPORE – Some of us have a crippling fear of commitment that affects our relationships, our careers, our diet and workout plans - and should we even apply for that privilege card? The cast of the new long-form drama though, Tanglin, have none of that.

Tanglin is a drama that revolves around four families living and working in the neighbourhood. There’s the Tong family (played by Wee Soon Hui, Darryl Yong, Jae Liew, James Seah and Charlie Goh, with Nat Ho as their mysterious lodger), who run a cafe; the Lims (Richard Low, Margaret Lim, Constance Song and son-in-law Adam Chen); the Bhaskars (Mathialagan, Yuvina Malathi, James Kumar and Eswari Gunasagar); and the Rahmans (Masturah Ahmad, Elfaeza Ul Haq, Syirah Jusni and son-in-law Fauzie Laily). While the plot is being kept strictly under wraps for now, our guess is that there’ll be lashings of intrigue, bucketloads of squabbling and a healthy dose of illicit affairs.

With at least 199 episodes in the works, Tanglin is MediaCorp TV Channel 5’s first long-form English drama. Filming started three months ago, and the ensemble cast will be spending the rest of their year filming on set. Some of the cast leapt at the rare opportunity to have a nine-to-five day job and a five-day work week. Others had to think long and hard about the opportunity cost. Some even had to up and relocate. But one thing’s for sure: You won’t find a commitment-phobe anywhere on this set.

FAUZIE LAILY: “I gave it a lot of thought before I decided to take on this job. We are booked till January – that’s a huge commitment. We have to consider other projects. For example, I’m (also acting) in Code Of Law – what if the next season comes up? But I’m sure we can make things work.”

WEE SOON HUI: “I’ve got three kids and they’re grown up. This year my youngest daughter is going to university. My husband was saying to me, ‘All three will be out of the house. You’re going to have this empty nest.’ I was scratching my head: ‘What shall I do? My only passion and love is acting’ – which I stopped doing because my children were young. So when this opportunity came along, I jumped at it. And when they said, ‘It’s 199 episodes throughout the year’, I said, ‘I have all the time in the world’.”

MASTURAH AHMAD: “I need to work! If I don’t go out and act, I get depressed being stuck at home. Doing a long-form drama, you go out every day and act. That’s the best thing: Your passion is also your career. It’s something I have been wanting to do for Suria but never got the chance to.”

NAT HO: “I wish I could say the decision was an easy one, but it wasn’t, because coming back means my momentum in Taiwan is broken. I thought long and hard about it. But I think the timing was right because it happens to be SG50 and I’ve been away for two years, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to come back and touch base with my audience, and spend time with my family as well. I guess everything just fit into place. And then when I finally came onto the set and started working with the cast – I had no regrets.”

ELFAEZA UL HAQ: “Making the decision to take this project on was a really tough one for me. I’ve been away from Singapore for about three or four years – I’m now based in Malaysia. It was a huge step for me to leave Singapore and my family to go there to start something. It took effort and a lot of sacrifice. For them to call me back here – it’s an honour. The last time I was on Channel 5 was about five years ago on The Pupil Season 2. I was like, ‘I want to do something for Singapore again. I’ve been away for too long’. My heart is still here. I still want to do it because this is my home, this is my people.”

JAMES KUMAR: “At first I did tell them there wouldn’t be much time. They really wanted me to be in the show and I’m quite grateful for that. They tried to make things happen. Also I was thinking, ‘This is a very big opportunity for me. This is history in the making’. It’s a big thing for the channel and it’s part of SG50. I really want to be part of it.”

CONSTANCE SONG: The timetable they gave us is quite good – we have weekends off and they don’t touch us on public holidays – I don’t think it’s an issue.

ADAM CHEN: “With 199 episodes, anything can happen. Anybody who has been in a long-form drama of the Chinese sort tends to be a bit wary about such productions. Then again, this is the first time Channel 5 is attempting something like this, so I think it’s a worthy effort.”

SYIRAH JUSNI: “(Life can be) difficult when you’re a freelancer – you only get paid when you have a job. Before this offer came, I was about to quit the industry and was looking for a full-time job so I could help my family financially (her dad has kidney failure). When the call came ... I asked myself, ‘Do I take this up or look for a job?’ My mum said, ‘Give it a try. You never know where it might lead.’”

JAE LIEW: “It’s my very first time having a main role in a TV drama. So, there was no question about it: ‘Yes. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity’.”

DARRYL YONG: “The decision was easy. How often do you get (people) coming up to you and saying, ‘I want you to be in a main cast role, and then for the next 10 months you’ll be on TV every single day’? It’s a golden opportunity for any freelance artiste. On top of that, we’re making history because we are the first long form drama on Channel 5.”

MATHIALAGAN: “It’s almost a year of filming – of course, there are many considerations. We can’t take up other projects that come our way. I was doing some overseas projects, which I had to adjust. But one thing appealed to me: I think it’s one of the rare times when an Indian family is portrayed as a whole, not just snippets here and there. Sometimes they have an Indian character just for the sake of it. But here, we are a real family to whom the audience can relate. I felt this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. And this is the first time a long form drama is on Channel 5 – there are a lot of promotional activities, so, it’s good from an artist’s point of view.”

Catch Tanglin starting June 30 at 8pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.