Serangoon Road is a detective noir series set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1960s Singapore.Serangoon Road is a detective noir series set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1960s Singapore.Serangoon Road is a detective noir series set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1960s Singapore.
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- TriviaSerangoon Road (2013) is an Australian-Singaporean television drama series which premiered on 22 September 2013 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and HBO Asia. It is a detective noir drama set in the 1960s, revolving around Serangoon Road in Singapore. The 10-part series is a collaboration between ABC and HBO Asia and was filmed largely in Singapore. It was created by Paul D. Barron and directed by Peter Andrikidis and Tony Tilse. Though the series received encouraging ratings, HBO has no plans for a second season.
- GoofsMandarin wasn't very commonly used for day to day conversation in Singapore during the 1960s. Regional dialects like Hokkien (Min Nan) were way more common, even amongst expatriates that spoke local languages.
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Not the Singapore I remember
I was looking forward to this series as I was living in Singapore round about the time the series was set. Not only that, I was living quite close to Serangoon Road so (ike reviewer 'pgmucha') I viewed the series with a hopeful sense of nostalgia. Why is the series called Serangoon Road? It is nothing like it. In reality it was/is a straight, wide street not a narrow winding lane, as depicted. One reviewer stated that it is 'not a documentary' but they should have tried to get the backdrop right at least. This was not the Serangoon Road I remember. The average temperature in Singapore is 25C with 70% humidity. However, our hero runs around and fights – but never raises a sweat . Just walking around in a climate where it is hot and humid all the time, has one dripping with sweat. People walked in the shade, not in the sun. Where are the Indians? Quite close to Serangoon Road is Little India but I could not see any Indians wandering about in this series. Geographical locations have been telescoped it seems. Bugis St is not just round the corner but a kilometer away. (I lived in a rooming house on the same floor as 4 of the 'boys' from Bugis St). Chinatown is at least 3 kilometers away. The acting is not Emmy (or even Logie) material. Joan Chen tries her best to be inscrutable. Her young female sidekick has a somewhat incongruous Oxbridge accent. The hero is suitably heroic, designer stubble and all. Does he ever change his shirt? His romantic interest however, is insipid and the epitome of 'wooden' - hardly the stuff of a a passionate love affair. The other characters are two dimensional at best. The bad guys are very bad. I don't think that in 1964 phrases such as 'pissed me off'and 'forensic accounting' were used. Overall, it was a very average production that barely held my interest A pity that it was not better researched. Yes, I know 'it was not a documentary' but it WAS a 'Hollywood generic' scenario aimed at viewers who have no idea what Singapore was/is like.
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