Witness to a Prosecution is a popular Hong Kong television series produced by TVB and originally aired on the TVB Jade network from December 1999 to January 2000. Starring Bobby Au-yeung as the forensic expert Song Ci, the drama is set during the Southern Song Dynasty of Mid-Imperial China and fictionalizes the origins of Song Ci's book Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified, an early work in forensic medicine. The series was a critical and commercial success, ranking as the seventh most-viewed drama in 2000. It earned Au-yeung the Best Actor award at the TVB Anniversary Awards. A sequel aired in 2003 with higher ratings but mixed reviews.
Synopsis
For 30 years, nighttime keeper Song Ci (Bobby Au-yeung) was despised in To Yuen village due to his posthumous birth in a coffin, having only the sickly scholar Sit Dan (Michael Tse) and the coolie Cha Siu-chaan (Lo Mang) as his friends.
After disputing with the village chief over his family's land, Ci, along with a homeless female thief Tong Sze (Jessica Hsuan), are accused for murdering the chief and are sentenced to death. The village's newly appointed magistrate Sung Yik (Frankie Lam) finds the case suspicious and investigates.
With the help of the mysterious yet experienced coroner Ma Kwai (Lau Kong), Yik successfully revokes Ci and Sze's sentences. Kwai becomes Ci's coroner master and Yik employs Ci to be his personal forensic medical doctor. The two become good friends and partners, successfully solving many murder cases in town.
Sze develops a crush on Yik, unaware that Yik and Nip Fung (Mariane Chan), daughter of chief constable Nip Yan-lung (Gordon Liu), are already in a relationship. Ci, on the other hand, falls for Lam Choi-dip (Eileen Yeow), the spoiled daughter of rich merchant Lam To (Lee Lung-kei). Choi-dip, however, has her eyes on Yik.
Several months later, a man also by the name of Sung Yik shows up and confronts Yik, calling him a traitor. After the two intensely quarrel, the fake Yik accidentally kills the real Sung Yik. In a panic, he buries Sung Yik's body in the garden of the Sung family rice shop. Yik's relatives then mysteriously die one by one; Ci eventually uncovers the body of the real Sung Yik and begins to grow suspicious of the current Yik, a man whom he has always respected and treated as a friend.
Cast
Note: Some of the characters' names are romanised via Cantonese pronunciation, instead of Mandarin.- Bobby Au-yeung as Song Ci (宋慈)
- Frankie Lam as Magistrate Sung Yik / Fong Tsun (宋翊 / 方俊)
- Jessica Hsuan as Tong Sze (唐思)
- Mariane Chan as Nip Fung (聶楓)
- Michael Tse as Sit Dan (薛丹)
- Lo Mang as Cha Siu-chaan (查小燦)
- Gordon Liu as Nip Yan-lung (聶人龍)
- Lau Kong as Ma Kwai (馬貴)
- Eileen Yeow as Lam Choi-dip (藍彩蝶)
- May Kwong as Princess Sum-yu (心如郡主)
- Benz Hui as Sung Sing (宋誠)
- Mimi Chu as Lo Fa (魯花)
- Celine Ma as Sung Ling (宋玲)
- Anderson Junior as Tenth Prince (十王爺)
- Alice Fung So-bor as Princess of Hong (康王妃)
- Lee Lung-kei as Lam To (藍濤)
- Lo Chun-shun as Choi Chuen (蔡全)
References
TVB's Top 10 Dramas (1997–2009) http://www.19740.cn/show.asp?id=1359/ ↩