''118'' also known as () was a Singaporean drama ran for 255 episodes and was produced by Mediacorp Channel 8. It stars Chew Chor Meng, Pan Lingling, Dennis Chew, Ya Hui, Xu Bin and Hong Ling as the casts of this series. The show replaced the second half of the 7.00 pm drama timeslot, airing weekdays from 20 October 2014, 7.30 pm to 8.00 pm on weekdays making the 1st long form half an hour drama airing together with news-current affairs programme Hello Singapore at 6.30pm. It is the longest running Chinese drama produced by Mediacorp.

Plot

Hong Daming ( Chew Chor Meng) is a positive and generous man. As his kopitiam and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

number are both "118" and the numerals sounded like Yeo Yeo Huat or 要要发, the people around himHong gave him the nickname of "118" , much to his delight. Together with his wife, Liu Meimei ( Pan Lingling), he makes a living by running his very owned traditional kopitiam known as Yeo Yeo Huat or 要要发, and is very well-known and well-liked in Tiong Bahru. Whenever someone is in need, they would always seek DamingHong for help. His family lives in a 3-room HDB Flat and shophouse directly above his traditional kopitiam Yeo Yeo Huat, which was built during the pre-war years, both of which are also located at Tiong Bahru as well. He has 4 children named Wang Shunfeng ( Dennis Chew), Hong Shunshui ( Xu Bin), Hong Jinzhi ( Ya Hui) and Wang Yuye ( Hong Ling). Having 6 people living in the Tiong Bahru Shophouse HDB Flat is cramped-up enough, yet Daming also rents out a

room In a building or a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure. The entrance connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors. The space is ...

to "Ah Niang", a middle-aged man whose original name is Li Weiliang ( Chen Hanwei). Weiliang had studied

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

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, but circumstances led him to simply run a stall at Yeo Yeo Huat, selling zongzi with the recipe that his mother left for him. Weiliang was not the only addition to the cramped flat. Later, Meimei's elder sister, Liu Jiejie ( Liu Lingling) and her family also came to live with the Hong family when her husband, Zhang Tiancheng's ( Chen Tianwen)'s

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

failed. Daming's own younger sister, Hong Shanshan ( Sheila Sim), and her daughter Viveka Lee (Sun Yi En) also came to live with him "temporarily" when her husband Alex Lee (Seth Ang) disappeared mysteriously. Kind-hearted by nature, Daming felt that they must have come to him because they were at their wit's end. He would rather make room for them by having his own sons Shunfeng and Shunshui sleep in the living room and sleeping at Yeo Yeo Huat himself, than to chase them away heartlessly. Daming also let his eldest daughter Jinzhi to run a stall selling wonton noodles and his best friend Lin Zhigao ( Cavin Soh) run another stall selling fried bee hoon at Yeo Yeo Huat as well, and even allowed Zhang Tiancheng and his family sell pizzas, spaghettis and beers at Yeo Yeo Huat during the evening and night and convert the kopitiam into a

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

by placing a few board labels to allow them to do

at night. As such, the story unfolds with this myriad of personalities living under one roof and hanging around Yeo Yeo Huat, where many dramatic yet comedic events took place. This drama presents the positive side of

Singaporeans Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

– passionate, practical, caring, resilient, faithful, tolerant and forward-looking – while also touching on the lesser side of our personalities. Through the dramatic play of events, we are able to see ourselves in many of the characters portrayed, who are in fact a mirror of the good and bad sides of all of us.

Cast

Hong (Daming) family

Zhang (Tiancheng) family

Hong (Shanshan) family

Lin (Zhigao) family

Li (Chengfeng) family

Li (Zhihao) family

Chen (Meizhen) family

Zhang (Jiabao) family

Zhang (Meiyou) family

Other characters

Tiong Bahru Market / Food Centre

Cameo appearance

''Note: Only credited cameos are listed.''

Cameo appearance (appearing from ep 128 onwards)

''Note: Only credited cameos and notable cast are listed.''

Cast who left before episode 127

Production

The storyboard for the series, Ang Eng Tee, said in an interview with My Paper that the show may need to be re-scripted even after the script for all 255 episodes has finished writing. This is because speculations that the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

may be held in 2015 is trending, and that the political parties are already introducing its candidates progressively. If the elections are held in September, the show will need to re-insert the GE buzz, and the director and cast will need to do re-takes. The election dates were announced on 25 August, and the GE buzz was inserted on episode 225 (7 September 2015), where Dennis Chew and Sheila Sim mentioned the election campaigns. However, as the show was pre-empted six times during that period, episode 225 could have been aired on 28 August if there were no interruptions, causing the campaigning period, which were held on 2 to 9 September, to have happened earlier than usual.

Original Sound Track (OST)

Awards and nominations

Star Awards 2016

''118'' has the third-most number of nominations for Star Awards 2016, with 11 nominations in 10 award categories. The series has at least one nomination in every performance award for drama programmes. Along with '' Crescendo'', '' The Dream Makers II'', '' The Journey: Our Homeland'' and '' Tiger Mum'', it is one of the five dramas to be nominated for both the Best Drama Serial and Best Theme Song. It won 2 out of 10 award categories.

References

{{SGLongRunningDramas Singapore Chinese dramas 2014 Singaporean television series debuts 2015 Singaporean television series endings Channel 8 (Singapore) original programming