The Lead (Chinese: 第一主角) is a 30-episode Singaporean drama produced and telecast on
Mediacorp Channel 8
Channel 8 ( zh, 8頻道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in Mandarin Chinese. It was created by Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that year. The ch ...
. The show aired at 9pm on weekdays and had a repeat telecast at 8am the following day. The show is Channel 8's mid-year blockbuster for 2017 to remember
Mediacorp
Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...
at Caldecott Hill and to celebrate 35 anniversary years of television dramas. It stars
Rebecca Lim,
Shaun Chen
Shaun Chen (; born 3 November 1978) is a Malaysian actor and former national badminton player who is based in Singapore. He started as a host for the variety show ''City Beat'' alongside Sharon Au, Jeff Wang and Fiona Xie. In 2003, he made h ...
,
Andie Chen
Andie Chen () is a Singaporean actor, host and vlogger. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artist from 2007 to 2017 but continues to film on an ad hoc basis.
Career
Chen's first appearance on television was in the Channel 5 series '' Grow ...
and
Julie Tan
Julie Tan (born 22 September 1992 in Penang, Malaysia) is a Singaporean actress. She was the female lead in '' That Girl in Pinafore''.
Early life
Julie Tan was born in Malaysia. She received her education in Singapore and studied Drama at the ...
as main cast.
Plot
Ah Zhen (
Rebecca Lim) has three childhood friends, Guang Hui (
Shaun Chen
Shaun Chen (; born 3 November 1978) is a Malaysian actor and former national badminton player who is based in Singapore. He started as a host for the variety show ''City Beat'' alongside Sharon Au, Jeff Wang and Fiona Xie. In 2003, he made h ...
), De Ping (
Andie Chen
Andie Chen () is a Singaporean actor, host and vlogger. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artist from 2007 to 2017 but continues to film on an ad hoc basis.
Career
Chen's first appearance on television was in the Channel 5 series '' Grow ...
) and An Ya (
Julie Tan
Julie Tan (born 22 September 1992 in Penang, Malaysia) is a Singaporean actress. She was the female lead in '' That Girl in Pinafore''.
Early life
Julie Tan was born in Malaysia. She received her education in Singapore and studied Drama at the ...
). Like Ah Zhen, they also love watching drama, and yearned to be seen on the TV screen. The four friends even made a pact together: To make it big in the drama scene, to play the lead character in a drama someday!
After graduating from secondary school, the four friends joined the TV station's acting classes, and all of them, except Ah Zhen, were selected to join the TV station as actors. Even though she was disappointed, Ah Zhen refused to give up, and began a journey full of hardships in the local drama scene.
Initially Ah Zhen worked alongside her father Xiao Hu (
Chen Hanwei
Tan Hung Wee (born 29 August 1969), better known by his Chinese stage name Chen Han Wei (), is a Malaysian actor based in Singapore.
Early life
Chen Han Wei grew up in Kampung Ungku Mohsin, Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru (), colloquially re ...
), who was a martial art stuntman. Unfortunately she was clumsy and always got injured, so she had to switch to being an extra. But even as an extra, she always somehow got in the way and was disliked and shunned by the production team. But Ah Zhen refused to leave the TV station, and found herself a job in the Costume department.
Childhood friend Guang Hui clinched his first lead role, and An Ya and De Ping had also taken up supporting roles, yet Ah Zhen was still struggling to survive. She switched from department to department: make-up, Props, Radio... trying to find a path for herself, but it seems like she was drifting further from her original dream of becoming an actress. Luckily at that time, she met her savior, the then “Ah-jie” of local drama scene, Chen Xiang Rong (
Xiang Yun
Chen Cuichang (born 27 October 1961), better known by her stage name Xiang Yun, is a Singaporean actress & television host.
She is commonly referred to as MediaCorp's first "Ah Jie" (Senior actress) for being among the first locally trained arti ...
), a woman whom Ah Zhen saw as her own mother. Under the help of Xiang Rong, Ah Zhen managed to get a small supporting role in her first ever drama debut.
Since then, Ah Zhen began her career as a freelance actor, taking part in a number of classic productions. But Ah Zhen was insistent in her own method of acting, which many others could not agree to. By then, Guang Hui was already a popular rising star, and An Ya was radiant and eye catching after her cosmetic procedure, so the two co-starred in a few dramas, and they became the best on screen couple of their time. Ah Zhen was happy for her friends’ achievements, but she couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken. Actually, Ah Zhen has always been fond of Guang Hui since her teenage years, but Guang Hui never really noticed her.
At the lowest point in Ah Zhen's life, and she felt like she was abandoned by the entire world. But with encouragement from her friends, she eventually got up on her feet again. This time, Ah Zhen decided to focus on her job behind the scenes instead!
Working as the assistant producer was the turning point of Ah Zhen's life. As she had worked in various departments previously, she had contacts everywhere in the production team, making life as an AP easier. She took part in various popular dramas, and with a brush of luck, she always managed to accidentally create epic scenes in the dramas. Eventually, she worked her way up to a director.
As the years go by, many things were no longer what they used to be. The TV station separated into two competing stations, and the friendship between the four broke down. Guang Hui was leading a wasted life, gambling and drinking away, and losing money in unsuccessful investments, eventually leading to a broken family. After separating from Guang Hui, An Ya took to the international screen, but was faced with aftereffects of excessive cosmetic surgery, threatening her acting career. De Ping was involved in a sex scandal and was fired by the TV station, and even ended up in jail for 2 months.
Seeing that their friendship was severely challenged, Ah Zhen, the only one who has not changed, tried very hard to bring the other three back together. After all these ups and downs, will the perseverance of Ah Zhen eventually recover the lost friendship between them?
Ah Zhen has always been secretly loving Guang Hui, but she always misses the opportunity to bring their friendship to another level. How will their relationship end up? An Ya and Guang Hui were the promising couple, but love grew into hate, and they went separate ways, though they never truly forgotten each other. Will they ever reconcile? Ah Zhen and De Ping are friends in times of need, supporting each other faithfully through all these times. Will their relationship eventually bear fruit?
Will this complicated four-sided relationship finally come to a happy ending?
Cast
Main cast
Supporting Cast
TV Station's Celebrities/ Extras
TV Station's Heads
TV Station's Instructors Directors/ Reporters/ Producers
Other/Cameo Casts
Original Sound Track (OST)
Awards & Nominations
Star Awards 2018
Star Awards 2018 (also SA2018SG, Chinese: 红星大奖2018) is a television award ceremony which is held in Singapore. The Post Party and Ceremony Awards was broadcast live on 22 April 2018. A total of 15 awards were handed out during the cere ...
The Lead is up for 5 nominations.
The other drama serials also nominated for
Best Theme Song nomination with Dear DJ,
Life Less Ordinary ,
Dream Coder
''Dream Coder'' (Chinese: 梦想程式) is a Singaporean drama produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8 . The show aired at 9pm on weekdays and had a repeat telecast at 8am the following day. It stars Romeo Tan, Joanne Peh, Desmond Tan, ...
&
When Duty Calls
''When Duty Calls'' ( zh, s=卫国先锋) is a 20-episode Singaporean drama produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8 in 2017. It is to commemorate 50 years of National Service in Singapore. It is sponsored by Ministry of Defence and Ministr ...
.
It won 3 out of 5 nominations. It swept almost all the awards except for Best Director and Best Theme Song.
Development
* Filming Starts in November 2016 and wraps in March 2017
See also
*
List of MediaCorp Channel 8 Chinese drama series (2010s)
This is a list of Chinese-language television programme broadcast on Mediacorp Channel 8, a television channel in Singapore.
The years stated in the list are the years in which the programmes were first aired on the channel.
Current programmin ...
*
List of The Lead (TV Series) episodes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lead (TV Series)
Singaporean television series
2017 Singaporean television series debuts
2017 Singaporean television series endings
Channel 8 (Singapore) original programming