Noblesse Oblige (; literally "The Realm of Unusual Officials") is a 2014 till 2015 Hong Kong period drama set during the later years of Kangxi Emperor's Qing dynasty rule. Produced by Lee Tim-sing, it stars Kenneth Ma, Tavia Yeung as the main leads, with Joel Chan, Benjamin Yuen, Ram Chiang and Cilla Kung as the major supporting cast. The drama was filmed from January till April 2014. First original broadcast began on Hong Kong's Jade and HD Jade channels December 29, 2014 till January 24, 2015 every Monday through Friday during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot with a total of 21 episodes, the last two episodes were aired on the same night as a two-hour finale.
This is Kenneth Ma and Tavia Yeung's fifth collaboration. The two previously starred together in The Mysteries of Love, The Hippocratic Crush l & ll and Three Kingdoms RPG.
This is also Joel Chan's first drama since previously quitting acting to concentrate on his personal life.
Synopsis
"Noblesse Oblige" is a French term meaning those who are privileged are obligated to help those that are less fortunate.
To Chun-fung (Kenneth Ma) is the illegitimate son of an affluent banking family during the Qing dynasty, but due to his birth title and his step-mothers he doesn't have much ambitions in life. Wanting to help the poor people in his county he decides to borrow money from his father and open a unique kind of bank. Instead of currency, his bank lends tools to people so that they can be employed. When nuns to-be Wai Lam (Tavia Yeung) and Wai Yu (Cilla Kung) borrows from Chun-fung's bank to renovate their monastery and is unable to pay him back they are forced to be his personal servants and body guards.
Prince Yu (Ram Chiang) takes notice of Chun-fung's clever idea and pushes him to be a government magistrate. Wanting to eradicate corrupted officials and with the help of Prince Yu, his older half-brother To Chun-ming (Joel Chan), who is the imperial governor of their province, and help of his best-friend Fong Gwai-cheung (Benjamin Yuen), Chun-fung becomes a magistrate. With Lam and Yu's protection against those who want to retaliate Chun-fung's cleansing of corruption he is able to take down many corrupted government officials but he is faced with having to choose doing right or family when one of the corrupted officials is Chun-ming.
Cast
Main cast
To family
- Lau Dan as To Chor-lam æÂÂæ¥ÂÃ¥ÂÂ
- Susan Tse as Tong Yun-ching Ã¥ÂÂå©Âè²Â
- Celine Ma as Ho Sau-yee ä½Âç§ÂÃ¥ÂÂ
- as Chiu Siu-yin è¶Âå°ÂçÂÂ
- as Chui Suk-chau å´Âç´ ç§Â
- as To Chun-kwan æÂÂæÂ¯éÂÂ
- as Ma Sing 馬èªÂ
- as head maid Lau Ã¥ÂÂ大媽
- as Heung Miu é¦Âæ¢Â
- as Heung Lan é¦ÂèÂÂ
- Melody Ng as Law Siu-ying ç¾Â
å°Âè¢
Imperial Qing Dynasty court
- as Kangxi Emperor 康çÂÂå¸Â
- Li Shing-cheong as Wing Bak-hin 榮伯è»Â
- Eric Li as Sek Si-suen ç³ä¹Âä¿¡
- as Suk Tat ç´¢éÂÂ
- as Official Chu æÂ±åÂ
¾Â¦
- as Gwan Gin-yan éÂÂ建ä»Â
- as Yu Ding-fan ä½Âå®Âå¸Â
Extended cast
- Yoyo Chen as Bak Hau-ling ç½巧éÂÂ
- as Koo Jun-on 顧仲å®Â
- Vincent Cheung as Wu Jo-gwong è¡ç¥ÂÃ¥Â
Â
- as On Tai-hoi å®Â大海
- as Man Sai-coeng è¬ä¸ÂæÂÂ
- as Mrs. Ci-yan æÂ
ÂæÂ©å¸«å¤ª
- as Nap Lan Yi-tai ç´ÂèÂÂç¾泰
- as Man Fung-ying æÂÂé³³è±
- as Kwok Yung éÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ
- Joe Junior as Fan Sai-si èÂÂ西æÂ¯
- as Wai Yuk æÂ çÂÂ
- as Ng Ching-hung å³æÂ£é´»
- as Lam Jin-leung æÂÂå±Âè¯
- as Tin Yi-nau ç°äºÂçÂÂ
- as Mok San-leung è«ä¸Âå¨Â
- as Luk San é¸山
- as Fung Hok-tak馮鶴德
- as Suen Ho-yin å«浩ç¶
- Kedar Wong as Ching Hau-lai ç¨ÂÃ¥ÂÂ禮
- as real Miu Fat å¦Âæ³ÂçÂÂ人
- as Cho Koon-nam æÂ¹å åÂÂ
- as Sung Chi-yuen å®Âè´éÂÂ
- as Sung Chi-yuen's wife å®Âè´é ä¹Â妻
- as Koo Ceok-tin å¤åÂÂ天
- as killer 殺æÂÂ
Development
- The title during early developments of the drama was "Top Quality Petty Official 極åÂÂèÂÂ麻åÂÂ", because producer Lee Tim-sing thought the title sounded too simple it was changed to "The Beauty of Bureaucracy å®Âå ´æµ®ä¸Â繪" during start of production. During post-production of the drama the title was once again changed to the confirmed title "Noblesse Oblige 宦海å¥Âå®Â'.
- The costume fitting ceremony was held on January 23, 2014 12:45 p.m. at Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio One.
- The blessing ceremony was held on February 18, 2014 at Tseung Kwan O TVB City.
- An early preview if Noblesse Oblige was shown at FILMART 2014 in April 2014.
Viewership Ratings
Awards and nominations
International Broadcast
References
External links