Hero (2016 TV series)

The story revolves around the lives of Zhou Fada, Ye Xiaoying and Zhang Weixiong, who are the three ordinary characters who grew up in Dakota Crescent. A series of interesting, exciting and personal stories will unfold…

Zhou Fada, also known as Big Brother, is a man with a strong sense of justice, loyalty and compassion. He always likes to help his neighbours handle problems in need. But because of his overzealous and reckless character, his good intentions often turn out to cause more trouble than help.

Ye Xiaoying is Fada's uncle, who always dreams of achieving phenomenal success in life, but he never did live up to his dreams as he is essentially just a slacker. He is very good at keeping out of trouble, by tactically avoiding tricky situations. His motto in life is: A man's greatest power is not his fists, but his tongue. He believes that being good with words can help one sail through career and relationships smoothly, but the fact is, his career and love affairs are almost always on the rocks.

Zhang Weixiong is a manly name, but the owner of the name is actually a cute girl. When her mother was pregnant with her, the ultrasound scan showed that it was a baby boy, so her father went to the fortune teller and got her this dashing manly name. Who would have expected that it was a baby girl! But they went along with the name “Wei Xiong” after all.

Weixiong is just like her name; she has great ambitions and a gusty character, and people in the neighborhood see her as the future elite. Unfortunately, that is just her pretense. She is actually very timid and cowardly, but she believes that in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, you will have to “never say die”. So even though she is crumbling from fear inside, she would always put up a strong front, and her strong-headedness always gets her into trouble. If not for the help of Big Brother Fada, with this personality, she might have much consequences to suffer.

These three characters, together known as “The Great Hero”, are the three musketeers of the neighbourhood, and from them, we will get to know many other members of Dakota Crescent, and also their inspiring, interesting and heart-warming stories.

• Jin Yinji as Granny Swordswoman 侠女阿嫲
• Chen Hanwei as Ye Xiaoying, Granny Swordswoman's son
• Shaun Chen as Zhou Fada, Granny Swordswoman's grandson
• Zhu Xiufeng as Granny Mahjong 麻将婆
• Brandon Wong as Zhang Zhiming 张志明, a security officer
• Pan Lingling as Xiao Jiahui 萧家慧, Zhang Zhiming's wife who is suffering from dementia
• Jesseca Liu as Zhang Weixiong 张伟雄, Zhang and Xiao's daughter, a lawyer
• Ian Fang as Zhang Weikang 张伟康, Zhang and Xiao's son
• Zhu Houren as Ou Sihai 区四海
• Andie Chen as Ou Jinguang 区金光
• Youyi as Xiuzhen 秀珍, daughter of Auntie Teochew and Ou Jinguang's wife
• Paige Chua as Ou Jinxuan 区金萱, Ou Sihai's daughter
• Nicholas Lim 林道锐 as Boy Boy 小冬瓜, son of Ye Xiaoying and Ou Jinxuan
• Chen Tianwen as Guan A-li 关阿礼, Huang Lili's ex-husband
• Aileen Tan as Huang Lili 黄丽丽, Guan A-li's ex-wife, a cleaner
• He Ying Ying as Guan Meiyu 关美玉, elder daughter of Guan A-li and Huang Lili
• Bonnie Loo as Guan Meimei 关美美, younger daughter of Guan A-li and Huang Lili, a cleaner
• Ng Suan Loi 黃晶晶 as Granny Cardboard/Cha Kwee Kiao 纸皮婆, Luo Bei's mother, a cardboard collector
• Peter Yu as Luo Bei 罗北, a taxi driver

Dakota Crescent is one of Singapore's earliest housing estates, built in 1958 by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), which preceded the Housing and Development Board (HDB). In July 2014, it was decided that the housing estate would be redeveloped under the HDB's SERS scheme and all residents would have to relocate by 2016.^[1] This prompted a campaign by activists for its conservation,^[2] a work of art to be created about it^[3][4] and also media coverage given to Dakota Crescent.^[5]

This drama series was also produced as a means of kick-starting the commemoration of 35 years of Singapore-produced Chinese-language television in Singapore. As part of this, Mediacorp's famous Chinese-speaking comedy icons, such as characters Auntie Lucy (played by Dennis Chew) from Paris and Milan and Liang Po Po (played by Jack Neo) from Comedy Night/Comedy Nite, will be making cameo appearances in this drama.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Imaging sessions were done in end-April and early-May 2016, while the first scene was shot on 23 May.^[14][15] On 30 July 2016, in the nineteenth season of The Sheng Siong Show, it was also announced that Power Station will be performing the drama's ending theme. They were in Singapore to promote their "Next Station" world tour which will be held on 27 August.

A post-screening session was conducted at Dakota Crescent's Care and Friends Centre. The cast of Hero - Shaun Chen, Jesseca Liu, Chen Hanwei, Bonnie Loo, Paige Chua, Ian Fang, Sheila Sim, Youyi, He Yingying, Aileen Tan, Brandon Wong and Jin Yinji were present. The first episode of the show was also broadcast there.