Created by Paul Barron and Peter Andrikidis
Serangoon Road is a 2013 ten-episode private eye drama from Australia, set in 1960s Singapore, and starring Don Hany and Joan Chen.
The mini-series, filmed on location in Singapore, is a big deal international co-production between ABC TV and HBO Asia, with American and Australian money also involved, and the first HBO Asia production.
The show depicted a tumultuous time in the island’s history, full of racial, political, criminal and class unrest, and takes its title from the road that runs from poverty-stricken Little India to the snooty Boon Keng area of Singapore, linking many of the island’s ethnic neighbourhoods. It follows the uneasy relationship between Australian-born businessman SAM CALLAGHAN (Hany), who’s done well for himself in the import/export biz, and his neighbour and recent widow, PATRICIA CHENG, who runs a Chinatown detective agency. After her husband is murdered, while working on a case, Sam agrees to help out.
But Sam, as a child, has plenty of his own issues to sort out. As a child, he was held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, and later joined the military, serving in Malaya, is reluctant to get involved.
TELEVISION
- SERANGOON ROAD |Â Buy on DVD
(2013)
10 60-minute episodes
Created and produced by Paul Barron and Peter Andrikidis
Directed by Tony Tilse
Produced by Paul Barron
Starring Joan Chen as PATRICIA CHENG
and Don Hany as SAM CALLAGHAN
Also starring Ario Bayu, Alaric Tay, Pamelyn Chee, Maeve Dermody, Rachael Blake, Michael Dorman, Chin Han
Guest stars: Russell Wong, Xiang Yun- “Shotgun” (September 22, 2013)
- “Reach Out” (September 29, 2013)
- “Ball of Confusion” (October 6, 2013)
- “Give Me Money” (October 13, 2013)
- “Heatwave” (October 20, 2013)
- “Tracks of My Tears” (November 1, 2013)
- “My Girl” (November 8, 2013)
- “Episode 8” (November 15, 2013)
- “Episode 9” (November 22, 2013)
- “Episode 10” (November 291, 2013)
A gripping and memorable mini series that still haunts me years later.