The Charm Beneath (Traditional Chinese: 胭脂水粉) is a TVB period drama series broadcast in October 2005. The series was shown to celebrate TVB's 38th Anniversary.

The Charm Beneath
The Charm Beneath poster
胭脂水粉
GenrePeriod Drama
StarringMoses Chan
Gigi Lai
Yoyo Mung
Anne Heung
Opening theme"鏡花" by
Gigi Lai
Ending theme"痕跡" by
Moses Chan
Country of originHong Kong
Original languageCantonese
No. of episodes30
Production
ProducerMui Siu-ching
Running time45 minutes (approx.)
Original release
NetworkTVB
ReleaseOctober 17 (2005-10-17) –
November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25)

Sheren Tang and Bobby Au-Yeung were originally cast in this series instead of Gigi Lai and Moses Chan when the teaser trailer premiered in the TVB sales presentation in 2005.

Synopsis

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They hide a dagger in a smile,
Are they driven by desire for power,
Or is it their only way to survive?

Cast

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The Chuk family

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Cast Role Description
Chan Hung Lit Chuk Moon-Shan
祝滿山
Geng Fa Tong (鏡花堂) Founder
Chuk Moon-Tin's older brother.
Chuk Yau-Shing, Chuk Yau-Yip, Chuk Ming-Man's father.
Mary Hon (韓馬利) Chan Ying-Hung
陳影紅
Chuk Ming-Wai and Ling Tin-Long's mother.
Savio Tsang (曾偉權) Chuk Yau-Shing
祝有成
Sung Wan-Seung's husband.
Chuk Moon-Shan's eldest son.-Died in episode 3-
Anne Heung Sung Wan-Seung
宋雲裳
Chuk Yau-Shing's wife.
Moses Chan Chuk Yau-Yip
祝有業
Wong Hiu-Ching's boyfriend.
Chuk Moon-Shan's son.
Gigi Lai Chuk Ming-Wai
祝明蕙
Lai Kwok-Cheung's wife.
Chuk Moon-Shan and Chan Ying-Hung's daughter.
Ram Chiang Lai Kwok-Cheung
黎國昌
Chuk Ming-Wai's husband.
Mandy Cho Chuk Ming-Man
祝明敏
Chuk Moon-Shan's daughter.
Fred Cheng Ling Tin-Long
寧天朗
Chan Ying-Hung's son.
Chuk Ming-Wai's step brother.
Li Kwok Lun (李國麟) Chuk Moon-Tin
祝滿田
Li Ah-Sin's husband.
Chuk Moon-Shan's younger brother.
Chuk Yau-Bong's father.
Kiki Sheung (商天娥) Li Ah-Sin
李雅仙
Chuk Moon-Tin's wife.
Chuk Yau-Bong's mother.
Ngo Ka-nin Chuk Yau-Bong
祝有邦
Chuk Moon-Tin and Li Ah-Sin's son.

The Ng family

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Cast Role Description
Chan Lit Hung (盧宛茵) Ng Lo Siu-Yung
吳路笑容
Ng Yi-Fong and Ng Yi-Ching's mother.
Yoyo Mung Ng Yi-Fong
吳以方
Ng Lo Siu-Yung's daughter.
Ng Yi-Ching's older sister.
Oscar Leung (梁烈唯) Ng Yi-Ching
吳以正
Ng Lo Siu-Yung's son.
Ng Yi-Fong's younger brother.

The Wang family

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Cast Role Description
Michael Tong Wong Hiu-Fai
汪曉暉
Wong Hiu-Ching's older brother.
Sharon Chan Wong Hiu-Ching
汪曉晴
Wong Hiu-Fai's younger sister.
Chuk Yau-Yip's girlfriend.

Reception

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With the grand production title and boasted a very impressive casts, TVB Had spent the amount of money and highly promotion into the production, likely to granted out Anniversary Series as well as set out to create a 1930s version of successful's War and Beauty but returned the disappoint rating then they been expected due to the various of reason about viewers' taste and the way the drama portray different so far from War's Darken plot,[1] making the grand production which failed. Began with 27 average point and minor growth in the following, praised the cast and producer an unhopeful high rating already. The Drama ended up with a bit better result with 32 average point with highest peak at 36 although it still couldn't compare to War and Beauty's final rating.

Despite the loss in the terms of rating, The Charm Beneath pressed out with a majority of positive reviews, began critical acclaims. one of the Outstanding drama of 2005 already considered in some reviews, deemed it classics.[2] The Drama had memorable with Anne Heung's villain.[3][4] Other began with cast's Disturbing acting and well script. Its theme song also recognized well into its story line with the quiet but breathtaking sound.[5] After all, The Drama garner enough for two female nomination at TVB's 38th Anniversary award with Gigi Lai for Best Actress and Kiki Sheung for Best Supporting actress.

Viewership ratings

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Week Episode Average Points Peaking Points References
1 October 17–21, 2005 1 — 5 27 [6]
2 October 24–28, 2005 6 — 10 27 [7]
3 October 31 - November 4, 2005 11 — 15 28 [8]
4 November 7–11, 2005 16 — 20 29 [9]
5 November 14–18, 2005 21 — 25 31 [10]
6 November 21–25, 2005 26 — 30 32 36 [11]

References

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  • TVB.com The Charm Beneath - Official Website (in Chinese)