Turbulent Decade

Chinese Title: 黄金十年

1986 TVB modern series with 60 episodes

- Starring -

Eddie Cheung 张兆辉 as 田永泰
Jamie Chik 戚美珍 as 曹锦仪
Carina Lau 刘嘉玲 as 童亦宁
Eddie Kwan 关礼杰 as 梅志培
Bobby Au Yeung 欧阳震华 as 但仕良

Margie Tsang 曾华倩 as 识至乐
Dicky Cheung 张卫健 as 张望大
Ng Ha-Ping 吴夏萍 as 温顺爱
Alex To 杜德伟 as 唐日升

This 1986 TVB production features many of today's big-name TVB veterans in their younger days. For many of the cast, I feel this is their best series. The acting in this drama is top-notch. Everyone had to portray a broad range of acting from high school days into adulthood. The supporting cast is equally strong consisting of many of the then-veterans.

- Plot Summary -

The story centered around a circle of friends who met during their high school days. Each had their own unique family background. In a period of 10+ years, together, they experienced the ups and downs in friendship, love, work and family relationships. The first third of the series is particularly cute. It is the high school period. You see the actor/actresses dressed in school uniforms with knee-high socks, or bell-bottom pants, or cute little 70s-style dresses, behaving like teenagers. The characters evolved as time passed into adulthood. It has a great ending.

- The Excellent Cast -

Eddie Cheung 张兆辉 –- as –- 田永泰
This is Eddie Cheung at his best. It's the tv series that made him popular. He played an only child whom, as a teenager, was constantly getting into trouble. Though a bit rebellious, 永泰 was a stand-up guy. Eddie's portrayal of his role just makes me smile, full of vitality and energy, very animated expressions, not to mention, he was handsome and in great shape. He also had excellent chemistry with the entire cast. In a recent interview, he said that, out of all the co-operations he's had, this cast is his favorite.

Eddie Kwan 关礼杰 –- as –- 梅志培
He was 永泰's buddy. Like 永泰, 志培 was very lively and full of energy. He was known to be a bit of a big mouth and tended to be a bit self-centered. He came from a poor family with lots of younger brothers and sisters. This is the only series I've seen Eddie Kwan in where he's not the villain. Acting wise, he complemented Eddie Cheung very nicely. His teenager portrayal was cute.

Bobby Au Yeung 欧阳震华 –- as –- 但仕良
He played 志培's cousin, an orphan who lived with 志培's family. He too became a good buddy of 永泰. 仕良 was more studious, a righteous person with a wooden temperament. Because of the temperament of his character, it's hard to clearly judge Bobby's acting in this. He did a fine job, but not the most exciting person to watch.

Jamie Chik 戚美珍 –- as –- 曹锦仪
In my opinion, this is Jamie's best series. She played a very sympathetic likable character, with a soft-spoken, selfless personality. Her character had to keep a lot of things inside, so a lot of the acting had to come through her facial expressions. I think she did that very well. 锦仪 came from a home with parents in a troubled marriage. 锦仪 and 亦宁 were high school best friends. She and Carina were very convincing as best friends. It was very enjoyable watching them together. But it's the storyline between 锦仪 and 永泰 that leads me to watch this series over and over again.

Carina Lau 刘嘉玲 –- as –- 童亦宁
This is also my favorite Carina Lau series. I think this role fits her well. Even though her character is not my favorite, I have to respect the excellent acting job that she did. 亦宁 came from a rich family, raised by her widowed father and maternal aunt. She was best friends with 锦仪. Unlike 锦仪, she had a boyish, no non-sense personality. In the first third of the series, she was very cute and likable. But she became unlikable and annoying in the later third.

Margie Tsang 曾华倩 –- as –- 识至乐
Margie appeared in only about ten episodes in the later half of the series. 至乐 was endearing. Though, I personally like Margie better playing bratty characters as in some of her ancient series. 至乐 was someone who entered 永泰's life at the start of his career, became his wife, but the story didn't stop there.

Dicky Cheung 张卫健 –- as –- 张望大
He played a geeky guy, raised by his single mom. He was also infatuated with 顺爱. I think Dicky played his character very convincingly. He went to the same high school as the others, and eventually became close friends with 永泰 and the other guys.

Ng Ho Ping 吴夏萍 –- as –- 温顺爱
顺爱 was known as the "easy" girl in school, a bit on the wild side. Ho Ping is an unknown actress to me. This is the only series I've seen her in. None the less, she acted well and was a delightful addition to the group.

Alex To 杜德伟 –- as –- 庞日升
日升 had an intense, at times, violent personality. His parents headed the black society. He went to the same school but didn't fit in with the others. He really liked 锦仪. Alex did a wonderful job making you not like him. He sort of had the look of a bad boy too.

The Supporting Cast
Richard Tat 吴孟达, Bak Yan 白茵, Seung Yee 湘绮, Lam Kin Ming 林建明, Deborah Lee 狄波拉, Tam Bing Man 谭炳文, Lau Siu Ming 刘兆铭, So Hang-suen 苏杏璇, Lo Hoi Pang 卢海鹏, Sek Sau 石修, Kiki Sheung 商天娥.

- Favorite Scenes -

I have a lot of favorites but here are a few of the standout ones:

- The beach camping scene where the gang were first getting to know each other. This is such a cute and happy scene. 志培 and 仕良 were eyeing 亦宁 and 锦仪, but the girls were interested in 永泰.

- The "love scene" between 永泰 and 锦仪. This is one of the most tender and romantic scenes I've seen in a TVB series. And they shared the sexiest kiss, shown in a later flashback.

- The scene in 日升's mansion where he was holding 仕良 captive. 志培, 永泰, and 锦仪 rushed in to rescue 仕良. In the mist of the confrontation, 永泰 found out, for the first time, that 锦仪 was pregnant.

- And of course, the ending. But I'm just going to leave it at that, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it.

I subtracted half of a star from the rating for the following reason. There were too many sub-stories, dragging the series out too long. I felt that several of those could have been eliminated without affecting the main storyline. Fortunately, with today’s technology, it’s easy to simply fast-forward any parts that you don’t like.

- In Conclusion -

This is a grand production from that golden era of TVB that many of us miss so much. With a star-studded and beautiful cast, superb acting, great chemistry, a well developed and moving plot, series like this don't come around often anymore. I highly recommend this TVB classic to anyone who enjoys series that deal with relationships/friendships. For fans of the actors/actresses, it's a must-watch. Personally, I have two all-time favorite TVB series, this is one of them.