TVB's new 30 episode Grand Production Qing Drama "Gam Chi Yuk Yip" (Palatial Sins) will star Moses Chan, Bowie Lam, Gigi Lai, Maggie Cheung, Charmaine Sheh and Sheren Tang [Em's note: I think the fourth leading lady should be Jade Leung.] in a "Four ladies Two men" arrangement. This show will begin filming in August and will be on location in Beijing's Imperial Palace and Forbidden City in December. The production costs are a massive HK$10 million and it is a high budget production rarely seen nowadays from TVB. The main leads all strike out as they each display their own stories in the show and rumours will be unavoidable. However, they all say that they are not worried about this and Production Director Tsang Lai Chun believes that they are all mature enough not to take notice of rumours.

Yesterday, the cast of "Palatial Sins" took part in a costume fitting and as well as the six main stars, production boss Tsang was there to keep an eye on things. She points out that this show will be displaying spring, summer, autumn and winter and producer Chik Kei Yi has been very careful and insistent that he must film the winter in the imperial palace, so the company will be supporting him in this, so the production costs will be over ten million dollars. When it was mentioned that Moses Chan has shaven his hair just for this show, Tsang praises Moses as being the second nicest bald head after Dicky Cheung as well as being hardworking and dedicated, such that the producer feels that deserves this opportunity, it is this and not that they are showing any favouritism towards him. With so many female stars, will there be a lot of rumours? She says: "No there won't, they are all mature adults who are only interested in acting, why should there be any rumours? (The other series "Nameless Angels 3D" has had a lot of rumours.) I have made enquiries, they are not unhappy, everyone is just fine."

Charmaine Sheh indicates that filming for "Palatial Sins" and "Nameless Angels 3D" has overlapped slightly on her schedule, but the producer has agreed to allow her one day's rest. She says that she is very afraid of the cold and is worried about filming on location in Beijing, so she says she will be wearing a diving suit inside her costume to keep warm, she also says that with filming there lasting a month, she is concerned about the cold and about getting fat from eating too much! Working with a group of girls, is she worried there will be a lot of gossip? Charmaine says: "I don't usually say much, but the gossip just comes for me, I will just have to treat it as promotion, but I don't feel it is very healthy, so I hope there will not be too much negative news!" When it was mentioned there will be a concubine selection in the show, hailing from a beauty contest herself, Charmaine laughs: "I feel it will be like history repeating itself, when I took part in the contest, we filmed in Beijing but luckily this time we won't be wearing swimsuits."

Maggie Cheung reveals that her character in the show is originally an innocent palace maid who is later forced by the power struggle into using underhand plots. Because the majority of her series recently have been comedies, she is pleased that this show will be very serious with all the characters fighting against each other and no-one content, she will be working very hard at her performance. Although this is the first time she has worked with Charmaine, Maggie says that all of the stars are great actors. As for whether she is worried about rumours, Maggie says: "I will lead in making the environment harmonious."

http://www.singpao.com/20030813/gossip/427337.html

Here is the full cast list from www.starphoto.com

Maggie Cheung, Sheren Tang, Charmaine Sheh, Gigi Lai, Bowie Lam
Moses Chan, Jade Leung, Wai Ka Hung, Chan Hung Lit, Wong Tak Ban
Lo Hoi Pang, Rebecca Chan, Chan Ka Yee, Chan Man Ching, June Chan
Irene Wang, Patricia Liu, Yu Chi Ming, Tai Yiu Ming, Kan Mo Wah
Ngo Ka Nin, Lo Kwan Cho, Lo Wing Han, Chu Yuen Yee, Chan Man Hei
Wong Yeuk Tung, Chan Chai Ping
Producer: Chik Kei Yi