There was a point in time when countless Singaporeans sat glued to their televisions, intensely following the latest Channel 8 drama.

In recent years, such interest has waned due to other more popular outlets (such as Netflix) but the new upcoming military drama, When Duty Calls, might be one to change this. Remember how its trailer went viral?

With a promising premise, plot, and trailers, it just might be what Channel 8 needs to skyrocket to popularity again.

Here are 10 facts about this upcoming drama that will make you rush home every weekday next month!

It’s a collaboration between Channel 8, MINDEF, and MHA
Since this year is (the widely publicized) NS50, which commemorates 50 years of National Service, these three organizations decided to collaborate together to pay tribute to this event in the form of the military drama.

It has a rather star-studded crew
While many dramas lately seem to introduce a never-ending stream of new faces, you might be comforted to know that this drama boasts many established and familiar actors and actresses such as Zheng Ge Ping, Felicia Chin, Paige Chua, and Pierre Png.

It involves the real deal cool people
In a scene involving members of the Special Operations Task Force storming a location held by terrorists, it’s interesting to know that those people were not actors or stuntmen, but actual members from the Special Forces. Cool, isn’t it? We don’t get to see them often – in fact, we never get a chance to see them! We’re all more familiar with Big Boss instead nowadays.

It pulled out no stops during filming
Apart from having Special Forces members on set, filming included close to 50 other officers from the Army, SCDF and Police Force, as well as countless police cars, firetrucks, and other special vehicles. Imagine how the scene must have looked like to those who didn’t know that they were filming a drama!

There were a lot of injuries involved
As expected, filming such an action-packed drama would definitely involve lots of accidents. Sure enough, the cast revealed how they suffered from a range of painful conditions such as sunburn, bruising, pulled muscles, and body aches.

Actress Paige Chua once considered joining the military
Although she might look gentle and feminine, renowned actress Paige Chua shockingly revealed that before she went into modeling, she had seriously thought of joining the military and applied to be a paramedic but was, unfortunately, rejected.

The actors are true to their characters
While many stereotypes of the army in shows involve damn “on” or overly enthusiastic people, turns out that it’s not just a popular trope, but actually happens in real life. In fact, actor Desmond Tan, who plays such a character, confessed that during his NS days, he was one of those “on” people. He ranked himself a 9.9/10 on a scale of how “siao on” he was, recounting how he used to cycle from Jurong to Changi way before book in time and exercised even more afterwards.

The cast includes some fresh faces
Although we might be more interested in the familiar names mentioned earlier, the fresh members of the cast deserve to be noticed too! Actress Jasmine Sim and actor Richie Koh, both 24, have also been recognized for their good looks and talent. Jasmine is a model, having finished second in The New Paper New Face 2014, and this is her third drama. For Richie, this being his first acting opportunity, he finished second in a talent-scouting competition back in 2013.

The cast members have grown rather close and supportive
On a set with such gruelling scenes and difficult moments, it’s not surprising that the cast would eventually grow to build camaraderie and friendships. Cast members gratefully revealed that even in the hot weather, other members would often bring drinks and snacks down to filming locations to provide moral support and encouragement. That’s rather similar to NS, isn’t it? When all the brotherhoods were formed. At least for most of them, no?

Not all scenes were easy to film
Sure, some scenes will definitely be demanding in terms of the actions and stunts involved, but turns out that some are difficult in a more psychological manner. Desmond Tan revealed that there’s a scene involving him eating a raw fish, scales and bones and all involved, and that puts him off raw seafood for two months. We look forward to seeing the final product of such a gruesome and tough scene (you can actually see a bit of it in the trailer)!

Here’s the trailer lest you miss it:

When Duty Calls is set to premiere July 31, 9pm on Channel 8. Make sure to catch it!

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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