Instinct (TV series)

This article is about the Hong Kong television series. For the British crime drama, see Instinct (TV serial).

Instinct
Promotional poster for Instinct
Genre	Modern drama
Starring	Adam Cheng Ekin Cheng Nadia Chan Roger Kwok Amy Kwok
Opening theme	Siu Hon Fung Wan (笑看風雲) by Adam Cheng
Country of origin	Hong Kong
Original language(s)	Cantonese
No. of episodes	40
Production
Location(s)	Hong Kong Dongguan, China
Running time	45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	TVB
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	November 21, 1994 – January 13, 1995

Instinct (Chinese: 笑看風雲) is a Hong Kong television drama series broadcast by TVB in 1994.

Starring Adam Cheng, Ekin Cheng, Nadia Chan, Roger Kwok and Amy Kwok, the series premiered in November 1994 on TVB Jade.

Plot

Wong Tin (Adam Cheng) is a wealthy businessman in Hong Kong. Although he is honest and righteous, he is framed by a business rival. Pau Man Lung (Ekin Cheng) is a ICAC agent tasked with investigating the case. Mutual respect soon develops among Wong Tin and Man Lung. After Man Lung loses his job, he start to work under Wong Tin with his best friend Poon Long Ching (Roger Kwok).

Although Wong Tin is a successful businessman, his personal life is not in good shape. He is divorced and his eldest daughter Wong Lui (Amy Kwok) resents him. Wong Lui develop feelings for Man Lung after her mother died in a car crash. However, Man Lung had already fallen in love with Lam Jing Lit (Nadia Chan).

Cast

The main cast of Instinct, anti-clockwise from top right: Adam Cheng, Ekin Cheng, Roger Kwok, Nadia Chan, Leo Ku(right), and Amy Kwok(left).

• Adam Cheng as Wong Tin

A wealthy businessman who had accumulated his wealth through honest means. He employs Man Lung and Long Ching when the former loses his job. A divorcee, he strives to improve his relationship with his estranged daughter Wong Lui. After the death of his ex-wife, he marries Cheung Hok Wa.

• Ekin Cheng as Pau Man Lung

Formerly an agent working for the ICAC, Man Lung loses his job after a botched investigation. He starts working for Wong Tin's company alongside his best friend Long Ching. Like Wong Tin, Man Lung is also an honest and caring person. He befriended Lam Jing Lit, and the two later became a couple.

• Nadia Chan as Lam Jing Lit

A young woman who had rented the Pau family's extra apartment after a misunderstanding. Jing Lit comes from a troubled family and thus became a withdrawn person, only caring for her pet dog, a Shetland Sheepdog. She was also a compulsive liar. However, she soon opens her heart to Man Lung and his family when they show her kindness and acceptance, something she had been yearning for all her life. She and Man Lung develop a strong romantic relationship, but the relationship would end in tragedy when she met an untimely death.

• Roger Kwok as Poon Long Ching

His father was an ex-convict who was a friend of the Pau family. Long Ching is best friends with Man Lung and both of them consider each other brothers. However, unlike Man Lung, Long Ching is greedy and materialistic, willing to obtain wealth through any means possible. His greed and ambition would inadvertently cause the deaths of Wong Lui's mother and Jing Lit.

• Amy Kwok as Wong Lui

The eldest daughter of Wong Tin, she resented her father for divorcing her mother and causing the family to split apart. After she found out the reason for the divorce - her mother had an affair, which greatly upset Wong Tin, Wong Lui's relationship with her father improves and she starts working for him. She becomes dependent on Man Lung after her mother's death, competing with Jing Lit for his affection.

Supporting cast

Pau Family

• Benz Hui as Pau Jan

The patriarch of the Pau family, he is the father of Man Lung, Man Fu and Man Fung. He is greedy and cowardly, and had an affair with a woman from Dongguan. After he was cheated of his money, he repented and was forgiven by his wife, thus preventing the family from splitting up.

• Leo Ku as Pau Man Fu

Man Lung's younger brother. He frequently bickers with his younger sister. He briefly fell in love with a woman from Mainland China, a relationship which the family disapproved of. Later, he found work as a reporter.

Others

• Henry Lee as Lui Bak To

A corrupt businessman who viewed Wong Tin as an enemy, even though the latter cared about him.

• Kiki Sheung as Cheung Hok Wa

A barrister who views money as the most important thing. Initially an unscrupulous person, she soon realize the error of her ways after meeting Wong Tin, whom she would later marry. She suffered from a brain tumor, which resulted in her frequently fainting. Hok Wa eventually succumbed to her condition in the final episode.

• Kong Ngai as Ding Zeon

Wong Tin's rival. He tried to bring down Wong Tin's company through any means possible. He forged Man Lung's signature to frame him, causing Man Lung to be arrested. He dies of a heart attack in the final episode after hearing of his son's death during an attempt to murder Long Ching.

• Lau Kong as Ma Seng

Another corrupt businessman, he had an affair with Wong Tin's first wife.

• Wayne Lai as Lawyer Poon

A prosecutor who appears in episode 37.

• Ruco Chan as Peter

A childhood friend of Man Lung. This was Ruco's debut appearance in a TVB drama.^[1]

Ting Hai effect

The drama was the second drama starring Adam Cheng to witness the Ting Hai effect, the first being The Greed of Man which aired in 1992. When the drama made its debut on TVB, the Hang Seng Index fell by more than 2,000 points.^[2]

References