UrbanWire

Following the success of its 2003 predecessor, A Child’s Hope, which re-enacted real-life scenarios of children and their fight against their illnesses, viewers can now look forward to its sequel, A Child’s Hope 2.

Starring veteran actors like Li Nanxing, and Sharon Au alongside rising stars like Jeanette Aw, Zhang Yaodong and soon-to-be father Allan Wu, the sequel promises to be more touching and heart-warming than the first.

A Child’s Hope 2 revolves around the life a successful doctor, Hu Yidao (Li Nanxing) who gives up his medical career after making a fatal mistake on the operating table. He seeks refuge and solace in a small neighbourhood where he befriends several terminally ill children. Through their struggle and optimism despite their illness, Yidao discovers the importance of living life to the fullest, and decides to use his medical expertise to help these children.

At the same time, he gets himself involved in a love triangle with social worker Li Jinghao (Jeanette Aw)and ex-girlfriend Tang Yongwei (Sharon Au). Viewers can expect more drama when characters played by Zhang Yaodong and Allan Wu, who have crushes on Jinghao and Yongwei respectively, confront Yidao in the show.

The main selling point of the show is the depiction of real cases of children born with an illness. Viewers can't help but be touched by their struggle against their illness and their determination to live life to the fullest.

Li Nanxing
The show marks Li Nanxing’s first time playing a doctor, and in retrospect, the veteran actor decided that it wasn’t easy at all. However, if there was anything more difficult, it would be trying to tell co-stars Sharon Au and Jeanette Aw’s Chinese names apart. As he jokingly recalls in Mandarin, “I kept calling Sharon [Au] Ou Xian and Jeanette [Aw] Ou Xuan, and often, when I called for Sharon, Jeanette would acknowledge and vice versa.”

Sharon Au
Sharon found her role as a doctor in the show more challenging than that of Li Nanxing’s. Known to many as a cheerful and outgoing person, the show host and actress had to tone down her personality significantly, as her character is a quiet and mellow person. She had to control her laughter each time she was filming, but it was hard for a talkative person such as herself to do so The director had to eventually ban her from any conversations with the crew, so that she could concentrate fully on her role. Sharon gradually slipped into her role with much ease; after a grand total of 36 NG (no good) takes. “In the end, I got so used to [being a doctor] that… [even] a cleaner addressed me as ‘Dr Tang’,” Sharon claims in Mandarin.

Jeanette Aw
After filming the show, Jeanette felt a lot of sympathy for the unfortunate children. Her role as a social worker with a hole in her heart had placed her in the shoes of these children. “Before filming this show, I had no idea that there were so many unfortunate children in real life. I really feel sad for them,” said Jeanette.

The show also stars Carole Lin, Andrew Seow, Huang Shinan and comedienne Patricia Mok as the parents of terminally ill children. Viewers can expect spectacular performances from these actors, who hadboth learnt and felt a lot while filming. During the press conference, an emotional Patricia Mok teared as she recalled how her character had to carry her child to school everyday. She pointed out in Mandarin, “At that point, I felt the toughness of parenthood and I fully admire their [parents’] love for their children.”

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UrbanWire speaks to the producer of A Child’s Hope 2, Mr Yeo Saik Pin, to find out if there are more emotional-driven shows in the works.

Following the successes of local drama serials like A Child’s Hope and homegrown movies like Home Run, it appears that shows with educational and moral values is the winning formula for a successful production. However, Mr Yeo Saik Pin, the producer of A Child’s Hope 2, disagrees.

As he put it bluntly in Mandarin, “Instead, a show with sincerity… will make it big, be it an educational show or not.” He cited The Champion, an upcoming TV drama serial about a group of swimmers that will feature young talents from Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, as an example.

The drama serial, which is currently in production, will feature local starlets like Jeanette Aw, Fiona Xie and Rachel Lee and Taiwanese stars Toro (formerly from boy-band Energy) and Johnny Yen (of My MVP Valentine and Snow Angel fame).

Mr Yeo hopes that local drama serials can mirror the success of Hong Kong drama serials.

“If we are sincere enough about this show, I believe that shows like these can grow out of the local market and head for Asian markets like Hong Kong and Taiwan,” he notes.

TV Preview of A Child’s Hope 2

A Second Hope

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