[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/06/07]

Charmaine Pledges Allegiance to TVB At "Drive of Life" Shanghai Promotion

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, China Central Television (CCTV) and TVB have joined together to produce 60-episode series "The Drive of Life" to mark the occasion. At the opening of the 13th Shanghai Television Festival today, a special media event was held and attended by cast members including Damian Lau, Michael Miu, Joe Ma, Raymond Lam, Ng Wai Kwok, Sheren Tang, Charmaine Sheh, Myolie Wu, Toby Leung and Maggie Chan. Jessica Hsuan was absent as she had to promote her mainland series "Life has Tomorrow", but she did appear at the cocktail party later. As for suggestions that her allegiances with TVB were weakening, she denied this saying: "I have worked with TVB for fourteen years now, so how could we fall out? I am just splitting my presence." TVB General Manager Mr Stephen Chan indicated that the series will begin airing on the 30th June in China and on 16th July in Hong Kong.

At the press conference, the cast members showed their support for the show, sharing their strongest memories and experiences. They all pledged to do their very best to make the series the most popular show of the year in China. Having found success in "Heart of Greed" earlier in Hong Kong, but not breaking any records with the final episode, TVB has strong expectations for the series because this is their first collaboration with CCTV and also its key to the mainland marketplace. As they will be airing the Mandarin version in China and the Cantonese version of the show in Hong Kong, then TVB are not worried about pirate copies of the series appearing before the series is aired in Hong Kong and affecting ratings. Having been rumoured to be attracted to move to ATV in exchange for $10million, Charmaine indicates that this is just rumours and she has not left to join the competitor.

The ladies were all dressed up in their finery for the event, but Sheren wore a rather androgenous outfit and did not attract attention like the other female stars. She said: "I am not as versatile as the three young flowers, so I have decided to go for a more classical look." Raymond was dressed like a waiter and caused a few laughs. During the event, Charmaine and Joe kept their distance from each other until they were forced to stand together for the group photo. Toby was placed with Charmaine in the centre of the photo, whereas Sheren was positioned to one side, perhaps due to the influence of Toby's father who is a TVB executive. Charmaine adds that she has quite a few kissing scenes with Raymond and the the most memorable was one where her estate agent character is trying to talk Raymond into buy an apartment and he says he will buy an apartment for each kiss she gives him, so she has to kiss him all over the cheeks and forehead.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/06/13/UL-750371.htm
http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070613/20070612234043_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/06/07]

Mama Mak Cries as Daughter Joey Mak Returns Injured from Beijing

The 16 Miss Hong Kong contestants returned to Hong Kong yesterday after a nine day tour of Tianjin and Beijing for their location filming. Many of their friends and relatives were at the airport to meet them, including the parents of Number 1 Joey Mak, who was injured during a run on the Great Wall. Talking of her injury, she says it is still a little painful and she has a bruise on her hip that hurts when she moves, but fortunately the doctor has said she is not seriously injured. Mama Mak was very worried about her daughter's condition and could not hold back the tears. Joey comforted her mother, but then ended up crying herself in a very touching scene.

Number 2 Lily Ho has become entangled in rumours recently that her friendship with Joe Nieh (Ngai Chun) has broken up the 18 year relationship he has had with Vivien Chow. It has been revealed that she knows Joe from an ATV collaboration. In response to questions about this, Lily says she has just returned and does not know what is going on, but she does not know Joe very well and she only met him once or twice at a couple of functions and has never been in touch with him privately. When the reporters suggested that these rumours are arising because she is a favourite in the contest, she says that this has been written by the magazines and she feels she has the same chances as any of the other girls. Asked if she is afraid this will affect her image, she says that even if she is afraid, then there is nothing she can do, so she will just work hard to be herself. Her father and sister were there to meet her yesterday and in response to the reports, Mr Ho indicates that the media has different needs and he believes his daughter will learn how to face them.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/06/13/UL-750370.htm
http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070613/20070612234514_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/06/07]

Nat Forces Bernice to Love 'Dak Dak Dei'

Nat Chan's Olympic Quiz continued filming earlier and guests on the night were Bernice Liu, Sharon Luk and Tracy Ip. Nat jumped on the opportunity to make jokes with Bernice about Moses Chan, using his character 'Dak Dak Dei' [Cantonese: 'Pretty Good'] as the basis of his jokes as he asked when he gave her a watch: "Dak Ng Dak? [Is it good?]" and then when Bernice replied "Ho Dak" [Very Good] then he laughed: "See, I knew you like Dak Dak Dei."

Afterwards, when Nat asked Bernice a question about windsurfing, he said she was going off-topic with her answer, but then continued to talk about having to turn around when your love life doesn't work out, but he believes that 'Dak Dak Dei' will not get the wrong girl, telling Bernice that the relationship should be very stable. Bernice appeared on the show with a very fresh haircut after cutting off 5 inches of her long hair. Asked if she is cutting her hair because she has lost in love, she smiles she does not know why, but she just felt like cutting it for no real reason.

In a radio interview later, Bernice admits that she did go to visit Michelle Yim and Lee Si Kei on set and Moses happened to be there. Asked if they had joked about this with her, she avoided the question and said that she has not had time to watch Moses's performance in "Heart of Greed". Having just returned from filming in Japan, she says that she went to a hot spring for the first time there, but she could not take it and nearly fainted.

Tracy has been taking singing lessons and she will be singing in public for the first time on Father's Day as well as a duet with Raymond Lam. As a result she has been taking extra lessons to avoid embarrassment. Talking of Raymond being signed by EEG, Tracy feels that if the opportunity arises, then signing with any record company would not be a problem and even if she has to work with rumoured boyfriend Don Li, then she will not mind.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/06/13/UL-750369.htm
http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070613/20070612234541_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/06/07]

New Series "Walking with the Enemy" Costume Fitting

TVB's new series "Walking with the Enemy" held its costume fitting yesterday attended by cast members including Roger Kwok, Kevin Cheng, Yoyo Mung, Kiki Sheung and Yu Mo Lin. Yoyo was absent from some of the promotional events for "Heart of Greed" earlier and there were suggestions that this was because she did not like her 'third party' character in the show. She denies this and she says that she was arranged to go abroad for a promotional trip with Raymond Lam at the time. With other rumours that she was too busy dating to film properly, leading to scenes being deleted, she explains that she knew about the character before and the producer had asked her about it. If she was unhappy then she would not have agreed to the part. After this, she added: "When the show was filming, I was not dating yet." As she said this, she realised she had said too much and became a little embarrassed. She also laughs that when she was filming with Raymond, they jokingly referred to each other as the 'cheating couple' and she is fortunate in that she has not been scolded after the show was aired.

In the new series, Kevin plays a man who has been in prison for ten years, so he has a scar above his right eye. When the reporters mentioned that he has finally lost Niki Chow in this series and can work with other women, he smiles that this is the third time he has worked with Yoyo. As for Yoyo's comments about her romance, Kevin smilingly asked what she said to avoid saying something he shouldn't.

Kiki was asked about the good results of her recent series "The Family Link" and she smiles that she is really very happy and she may take everyone out for abalone later. As for the suggestion that the finale is very similar to a Western Movie, she says she does not know and even if it is copied, then it does not matter because it will have been performed in a different way by different people. Talking of suggestions that she is co-habiting with her boyfriend, but not sleeping together, Kiki laughs that she is an adult and she has a normal life, but whether they sleep together or get married or not doesn't matter.

Yu Mo Lin was very unhappy yesterday, because her 66-year old sister was involved in a car accident earlier and is in a coma. The doctor had told her that she will never wake up and they cannot save her. She says her sister had to have four big operations in three days and after an operation on her brain, her head swelled up to the size of a watermelon. She says that her sister was very unlucky and she is worried about her brother-in-law because he will become a lonely man.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/06/13/UL-750367.htm
http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070613/20070612235140_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao 13/06/07]

Suki Chui Shares Love via Computer

Suki Chui was invited to attend a computer promotion yesterday and she indicates that she bought herself a portable computer earlier, but it has been taken over by her sister. When she was studying in England, she set up a webcam on her computer so she could keep in touch with her boyfriend and save on the expensive long-distance calls.

Recently, Suki has been busy filming for "Steel Lips Silver Teeth" and also "War of In-Laws 2007", so she has been very busy. Has she been using the computer to keep in touch with her boyfriend again? She became very evasive when asked about her boyfriend and just indicated that in the past she used it to keep in touch with her boyfriend, but now she uses it to keep in touch with her friends abroad. Asked why she did not want to talk about her boyfriend and whether he minds, she smiles that her boyfriend will not mind. As for this year's Miss Hong Kong contestants, she says she has the deepest impression of Silvia Leung Ka Yan because she has a very sharp response. As for Lily Ho's hips and cellulite, Suki believes that we should not just look at the figure, because like her when she took part, she still had some baby fat because she was still in her teens and this will go in a few years. She feels that a lot of people have cellulite.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/06/13/UL-750356.htm