HONG KONG • It was a thank-you gift from TVB actor Kenneth Ma who paid for a restaurant dinner for his co-stars and production crew of his medical drama Big White Duel.
But one guest also turned up with a gift for Ma, 45, who bagged his first Best Actor prize at the TVB Anniversary Awards earlier this month for his role as a doctor in that show.
TVB executive Catherine Zhang said Big White Duel will be getting a sequel, a nod to Ma's contribution in helping to make the show a huge hit among viewers in June and July last year.
The show - voted Best Drama Series at the TVB Awards - had also clinched for Ma last November the Best TVB Male Artist accolade at StarHub Night Of Stars in Singapore.
Ma, who said his restaurant treat was his show of appreciation for everyone's hard work, added that the sequel should feature the same cast, with other actors roped in to play new roles.
According to on.cc portal, Ma, who received a congratulatory text from Jacqueline Wong, 31, after his TVB Awards coup, expects to start work on the sequel at the end of the year.
They broke up after her kissing scandal with married singer Andy Hui, 52, in April last year.
Noting that Big White Duel scored because much research had gone into making the plot credible, Ma said the same rigorous standards must be applied to make the sequel stand out again.
Still, the veteran actor knows that viewers' preferences are difficult to predict.
Borrowing an example from football, he said: "Just because the team had a good season, that doesn't guarantee the following season will also be equally good."
Ali Lee, 37, who is part of the Big White Duel's cast, was asked if TVB is going to cast her in shows again after she was reportedly sidelined for her pro-democracy views amid the Hong Kong protests.
TVB is wary of upsetting Beijing and being shut out of the China market.
Lee said she is leaving it up to the broadcaster, but seems to be hedging her bets by revealing she hopes to further her studies this year.
She is steeling herself to take the leap into the unknown.
Her caption for a recent photograph she posted reads: "You are never ready for what you have to do. Juz do it, that makes you ready."
