Native Name: | 宦海奇官 |
Alt Name: | Top Quality Petty Official 極品芝麻品 The Beauty of Bureaucracy 官場浮世繪 |
Genre: | Period drama, Historical fiction, Comedy |
Creator: | Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited |
Starring: | Kenneth Ma Tavia Yeung Joel Chan Benjamin Yuen Lau Dan Yoyo Chen Cilla Kung Ram Chiang Susan Tse Henry Lee |
Opentheme: | Gossip (是非) by Ronald Law & Grace Wong |
Theme Music Composer: | Alan Cheung |
Country: | Hong Kong |
Language: | Cantonese |
Num Episodes: | 21 |
Executive Producer: | Catherine Tsang |
Producer: | Lee Tim-sing |
Editor: | Tsui Tat-choh, Siu Long |
Location: | Hong Kong |
Camera: | Multi camera |
Runtime: | 45 minutes |
Company: | TVB |
Network: | TVB Jade, HD Jade |
C: | 宦海奇官 |
L: | "The Realm of Unusual Officials" |
J: | waan6 hoi2 kei4 gun1 |
Y: | waahn hói kèih gūn |
P: | huàn hǎi qí guān |
Noblesse Oblige (; literally "The Realm of Unusual Officials") is a 2014 till 2015 Hong Kong period drama set during the later years of Kangxi Emperor's Qing dynasty rule. Produced by Lee Tim-sing, it stars Kenneth Ma, Tavia Yeung as the main leads, with Joel Chan, Benjamin Yuen, Ram Chiang and Cilla Kung as the major supporting cast. The drama was filmed from January till April 2014. First original broadcast began on Hong Kong's Jade and HD Jade channels December 29, 2014 till January 24, 2015 every Monday through Friday during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot with a total of 21 episodes, the last two episodes were aired on the same night as a two-hour finale.[1]
This is Kenneth Ma and Tavia Yeung's fifth collaboration. The two previously starred together in The Mysteries of Love, The Hippocratic Crush l & ll and Three Kingdoms RPG.
This is also Joel Chan's first drama since previously quitting acting to concentrate on his personal life.[2]
"Noblesse Oblige" is a French term meaning those who are privileged are obligated to help those that are less fortunate.
To Chun-fung (Kenneth Ma) is the illegitimate son of an affluent banking family during the Qing dynasty, but due to his birth title and his step-mothers he doesn't have much ambitions in life. Wanting to help the poor people in his county he decides to borrow money from his father and open a unique kind of bank. Instead of currency, his bank lends tools to people so that they can be employed. When nuns to-be Wai Lam (Tavia Yeung) and Wai Yu (Cilla Kung) borrows from Chun-fung's bank to renovate their monastery and is unable to pay him back they are forced to be his personal servants and body guards.
Prince Yu (Ram Chiang) takes notice of Chun-fung's clever idea and pushes him to be a government magistrate. Wanting to eradicate corrupted officials and with the help of Prince Yu, his older half-brother To Chun-ming (Joel Chan), who is the imperial governor of their province, and help of his best-friend Fong Gwai-cheung (Benjamin Yuen), Chun-fung becomes a magistrate. With Lam and Yu's protection against those who want to retaliate Chun-fung's cleansing of corruption he is able to take down many corrupted government officials but he is faced with having to choose doing right or family when one of the corrupted officials is Chun-ming.[3] [4]
Timeslot (HKT) | Week | Episode(s) | Average points | Peaking points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mon – Fri 20:30 | 29 Dec 2014 - 02 Jan 2015 | 1 — 5 | 24 | 27 | |
2 | 05-08 Jan 2015 | 6 — 10 | 26 | 29 | ||
3 | 12-16 Jan 2015 | 11 — 15 | 25 | 29 | ||
4 | 19-24 Jan 2015 | 16 — 21 | 26 | 28 | ||
Total average | 25.3 | 29 |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | My Favourite TVB Actor | Kenneth Ma | ||
My Favourite TVB Male TV Character | Kenneth Ma | |||
TVB Anniversary Awards | TVB Anniversary Award for Best Drama | Noblesse Oblige | ||
TVB Anniversary Award for Favourite Drama Song | Gossip (是非) by Ronald Law & Grace Wong |