Dramas Diversifying

The success of Below the Lion Rock inspired the RTHK TV Division to produce a succession of other dramas. Among them, Profile, Under the Same Roof, Heritage, Miracle of the Orient, Writer Series, Faces and Places and Affairs of the Heart are all realistic dramas that featured the stories of people from all walks of life in Hong Kong.

The popular series When We were Young, launched in 1977, had again won the hearts of viewers. Directed by Rachel Zen, the first series, featuring children in leading roles, successfully captured the innocence and simple lives of Hong Kong people in the late 1970s from children’s perspectives. It subsequently ushered more children dramas, including Children Drama, Sunny Days, Rainy Days and Childhood Days, Children’s Magazines and more.

As a new generation of young people grew up, new themes of dramas also emerged at RTHK. In 1999, RTHK broadcast its first youth drama Y2K series – focusing on teenage students and growth as its main theme. The series was an instant hit, spawning a trend of producing youth dramas targeted at and performed by young people. Numerous young new artists, such as Alex Fong, Charlene Choi, Shawn Yue and Natalie Tong, debuted in the series and went on to successful careers in acting, made RTHK an incubator of talented people working in front of and behind the scenes in Hong Kong’s film and television industry.

In response to social development, the creators of dramas at RTHK may choose a broad audience or a specific target group as their main characters and themes. They include senior citizens as the main characters of Memory, Golden Days, Elderly Drama and so on; women as the theme of The Women, Woman with Dreams; as well as sex education as the theme of Sex Education. They also include dramas made in collaboration with other government departments or groups, such as Verdicts, Legal Drama, The Road Back, Lose and Win, On the Beat, A Wall-less World, Elite Brigade Series and The Moment. In addition, there are situation comedies, such as Rooms to Let Series, and pop music as the theme of Those were the Songs. Regardless of the themes, RTHK dramas always aim to present the realities of Hong Kong at the time.