[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 14/12/04]

Metro Radio presented its "Black and White Television Characters Awards 2004" yesterday, handing out ten 'black' and 'white' awards in total, with 'black' going to Sheren Tang, Gigi Lai, Marco Ngai, Kenneth Chan and Shek Sau and 'white' going to Charmaine Sheh, Bowie Lam, Nancy Sit, Dayo Wong and Joey Meng.

Since Gigi Lai took the award for "My Favourite Female Lead Role" at the TVB anniversary, there have been rumours of animoscity between her and Sheren, but when the ladies met yesterday, they were chatting merrily and posing for photographs and when they were arranged to receive their awards together, Sheren helped Gigi fix her hair before going on. When clips of "War and Beauty" were shown, Sheren suggested that they replay the scene live, scaring Gigi a little. Sheren then said: "It will be harder for Gigi because she has to cry!" When asked about still being able to find popularity playing the evil role, she laughs: "Maybe I am too nice and this helps to balance things out." If she works with Gigi again, Sheren indicates she would like to play the character being picked on and as for the rumours of them falling out, Sheren says there is nothing between them and since finding her religion, there is nothing in her heart apart from love and certainly no hatred or jealousy. She actually cares very much for Gigi because there were a lot of rumours before the anniversary and it must have been hard for her to handle them.

Having received many awards from her 'Yu Fei' character, Sheren says that she will not be numbed by this because each award has its own meaning. She has never counted how many awards she has because the award she would most like is for the Chinese Best Actress. When asked if she would ask her 'old friend' Liu Xiao Qing to help her out, Sheren smiles: "Friends are there not for this reason, they are for support and encouragement. Moreover, she is a mentor and it would be disrepectful to refer to her as an 'old friend'." She admits that there are many negotiations at the moment about filming on the mainland and she will be selecting some quality productions to avoid wasting her time. Liu has also told her to be careful in selection and having Liu as her guide has made things easier for Sheren. Also Eric Tsang has also been paving the way for her in China, so she has many options.

2004 has been a fruitful year for Gigi and as well as winning many awards, she has also had a long string of jobs. Although she feels without regret, people have to keep moving forward, so she still has goals to strive for and this is working towards the 'Outstanding Youth' awards, following in the footsteps of Kelly Chen's achievements. Gigi feels she is very fortunate, so she hopes to use her fame to help the needy and plans to build a school on the Mainland, but she is looking for a trustworthy foundation to help her. She says that she is not very rich, but hopes that she can use her popularity to help spread the word.

Gigi also re-emphasises that her only competition with Sheren is in acting ability and not personal. They actually get on very well and yesterday she even joined Sheren at a Christmas party for the Artiste's Christian Group.

Charmaine received a 'white' award, that represents a happy, positive and humane characterisation. She says that she is naturally a happy person and feels that the audience have high demands nowadays, so as an artiste, they have to keep improving. She would most like to play a secretive and complex character, such as the black rose or an assassin.

As 2004 draws to a close, looking back on the results of the past year, Charmaine feels satisfied and happy because she has received recognition through the many awards received for "War and Beauty". As for missing out on the 'Favourite Female Lead' award, when asked if this was a minor setback, she did not respond directly, saying: "I am happy to have a chance to take part in the show, if I have another character next year with as much power, then I will be rich!"

Nancy won her award with her character in "Virtues of Harmony" - 'Chi Goo' and this is the fourth award she has won with this role. However, with "Virtues" ending next January and the retiring of 'Chi Goo', Nancy says she will take a few months off to rest. However, she will continue her radio show. When she is off in America, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia with her stage show in January, Ursule Wong will be taking her place in the DJ seat. As Ursule would like to try more hosting opportunities, she is not worried about being paid, but Nancy will be giving her a hefty lucky packet.



After 13 years in the industry, Marco Ngai received his first performance award yesterday and when he received the award, he thanked many people, including his mother, his girlfriend Joyce Tang and TVB executive Catherine Tsang. When he came off the stage, he hugged and kissed his mother and was moved to tears.

Marco says that this is the first acting award he has received and so he wanted to share the moment with his mother. As for Joyce, she is currently working in Shanghai, so she could not join him. Thinking back to the last 13 years, Marco has been working steadily and his mother has seen him working so hard and even tried to convince him to give up acting. He kept on going and is thankful for all the support his mother has given him. He says that in his heart his mother and his girlfriend are just as important as each other and they are equal. He will not be getting married after winning this award because his career is still not been a success and he hopes to win more awards. He will get married when the time is right.

Bowie Lam had just returned from Korea the night before and will be heading out to Taiwan with Gigi this evening to promote "War and Beauty" which is airing over there. He does not mind working non-stop as this makes him happy. Bowie will be joining with Ekin Cheng in a forthcoming series, where he plays a helicopter pilot, so he will be undergoing training soon.

Dayo Wong says that a predecessor once said that every artiste should have three classic roles and he has achieved this with roles in "Justice Sung", "War of the Genders" and "To Catch the Uncatchable". Unfortunately, he was the evil rival Lai Sam in "Sung' and not many people remember that, so he still has to work harder.

After the success of "Millionaire" two years ago, Kenneth Chan takes another award this year and he says that although the ratings for "My Date with a Vampire" were not as good as they had expected, to join Joey in winning an award was a big confidence boost for him. Talking of why the show's male lead Eric Wan was omitted from the winners, Kenneth thinks it may be linked with Eric's recent negative press, but he hopes that people will put this news behind them. [Eric was earlier accused of sexual assault by Mango Wong, claims which were refuted and never proved.]

Joey says that the greatest gain for her from the set of 'Vampire' series was finding her husband (Script Supervisor Chan Sap Sam). When asked why she was not at the ceremony with her husband, she smiles: "What's it got to do with him? He can be the man standing behind me!" Receiving her award yesterday alongside the "War and Beauty" cast, does she feel a little insignificant? Joey says that she will not because the 'other channel' has been very successful and there is no need to compare. She has worked with Sheren Tang before and they know each other well, so she also tuned into "War" to support Sheren. Joey says she has always been a fan of Sheren's and although she did not win the 'Favourite Female Lead' award, in Joey's opinion, Sheren is her favourite and has always been a great actress.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-12-14/UL-341528.htm
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-12-14/UL-341527.htm
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-12-14/UL-341526.htm
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-12-14/UL-341524.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041214/20041213235446_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 14/12/04]

Nick Cheung took part in a promotional event for "The Last Breakthrough" yesterday and was busy playing tricks on the other cast members. When Raymond was miming along to the title song, Nick ran behind and grabbed the microphone from him. As Raymond continued to sing along, Nick ran around him laughing that Raymond did not need to mime because he sings so well anyway. In the end when Raymond let him have the mic, he pretended to mime along and caused fits of laughter from the audience.

Afterwards Nick indicated that everyone is a good sport and Raymond would not be mad at hime. Yesterday happened to be Bosco Wong's birthday, so the organisers provided a birthday cake for him and when Bosco blew out the candles, Nick said that the reporters missed the photo and made him do it again. Just as Bosco was about to blow out the candle, Nick pushed his head down and left him with a face full of cake that quickly erupted into a cream fight.

Bosco turned 24 yesterday and during the promotion, his fans waved a banner to congratulate him and presented him with a crystal present, making him very happy. As for being pushed by Nick, Bosco laughs: "That [insert playful expletive here] guy... but I don't mind because we are always playing very hard and he has taught me a lot.". Luckily Suet Nei was around to help him wipe away the cream. He will not be angry at Nick though and will actually thank him because he has learned many good life lessons from Nick. Earlier, Bosco was filming for "My Sassy Mother-in-Law" and Liza Wang gave him a birthday lucky packet. His birthday wish is for his work to go smoothly.

The fun continued later on as they played games with the audience and Raymond was the model for being wrapped with a bandage around his face. At this point, Mimi Lo joked: "People say he has had a nose job, you don't need to mess with his chin!"

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-12-14/UL-341514.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041214/20041214000042_0003.html



[Oriental Daily 14/12/04]

After waiting for two hours at TVB's Tung Wah Charity show earlier, Danny Summer left without performing and after the show's producer gave an explanation, it would appear that Danny's anger has not yet subsided as he blasted TVB for making all the performers wait around, saying: "I will not be used by you (TVB) as a pawn."

When Danny was asked whether any of the crew had contacted him afterwards, he said: "No, they do not need to contact me, this is about having a sense of timing. If they had told me not to turn up until between 12 and 1, then I would not have missed an awards ceremony (top record sales award in the mainland) and a band show party to be there. I was supposed to have interviews with seven different media in the mainland and I missed all that...when Eric Tsang and Liza Wang saw me sitting there for so long, they asked me when I would be on stage and then when Eric checked the run down, he was surprised and said that there was still a long time before I was due on. I really wanted to receive the award in person, who would watch me singing in the middle of the night anyway? (Are you afraid of upsetting TVB?) I have not thought of upsetting anyone, the reports say I was angry, but I was not."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a53cnt.html