''It Takes a Thief'' is a Hong Kong television series adapted from

Gu Long Xiong Yaohua (7 June 1938 – 21 September 1985), better known by his pen name Gu Long, was a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. A graduate of Cheng Kung Senior High School and Tamkang University, Xion ...

's ''

Chu Liuxiang Chu Liuxiang is the fictional protagonist of the ''wuxia'' novel series ''Chu Liuxiang Series'' by Taiwanese writer Gu Long. His given name "Liuxiang" literally means "lingering fragrance". Nicknamed "Dàoshuài" ("Bandit Chief") or "Xiān ...

Series''. The series was first broadcast on RTV (now ATV) in Hong Kong in September 1979.

Changes in title and characters' names

The series' original Chinese title was 盜帥留香 (''Dou Seoi Lau Heung''; literally " Bandit Chief Liuxiang"). It was released around the same time as '' Chor Lau-heung'', a similar television series produced by

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

. RTV and TVB became involved in copyright lawsuits against each other because of similarities between ''It Takes a Thief'' and ''Chor Lau-heung''. TVB won the lawsuits and eventually RTV had to change the Chinese title of ''It Takes a Thief'' from 盜帥留香 to 俠盜風流, and the names of characters in the television series. The name of the protagonist Chor Lau-heung (Cantonese for "

") was changed to "Dou Seoi" (盜帥; literally "Bandit Chief"), one of Chu Liuxiang's nicknames in the novels. ''It Takes a Thief'' started airing on 1 September 1979, two days earlier than TVB's ''Chor Lau-heung''.

Cast

: ''Note: Some of the characters' names are in Cantonese romanisation.''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:It Takes a Thief (1979 TV series) 1979 Hong Kong television series debuts 1979 Hong Kong television series endings Hong Kong wuxia television series Works based on Chu Liuxiang (novel series) Cantonese-language television shows Television shows based on works by Gu Long