House of Spirits (TV series)
House of Spirits is a 2016 Hong Kong television comedy, family, supernatural drama produced by Dave Fong for TVB, starring Bobby Au-yeung, Nancy Wu, Helena Law, Bowie Wu, Joyce Tang, Jonathan Cheung, Lau Kong, Koni Lui and :zh:張彥博|Bob Cheung as the main cast. It premiered on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and Malaysia's Astro On Demand on June 27, 2016 airing Monday through Sunday during its 9:30-10:30 pm timeslot and concluding July 31, 2016 with a total of 31 episodes.
Synopsis
When Po Foon finds his heart broken father Po Luk dead while waiting for his grown children to come over for dinner, Foon makes a promise to fulfill his father's last wish of mending his bickering family together. As requested on Po Luk's will, all four of the Po siblings must live together in his rundown home for nine months before they can sell it. At first, none of Foon's siblings, Po Yan, Anthony Po and Po Yi agree to live together, but after discovering the property's worth in the market all move in without hesitation.Po Foon, the oldest of the four, is not respected by his younger siblings. He had walked out on the family during his youth, instead of contributing to his family when it was needed the most, he had decided to leave so he could seek his freedom and escape his father's abuse. The death of his father has finally made him realize the importance of unity and family, and makes him finally understand his father's words of "A bunch of chopsticks is stronger than one chopstick."
On the first day of moving into his father's home, Foon comes across a dusty antique umbrella and opens it in the balcony. As he turns to go back inside he sees an elderly couple suddenly inside the house watching television on his couch. They introduce themselves as Bak Wah and Yi Lan , and claim they live next door. However both Bak Wah and Yi Lan seem to not want to leave the Po home until Foon ask them to.
Foon then starts to notice something strange about the couple, as he and his niece Bianca seem to be the only two people who acknowledge their existence. The neighbors in the building tell Foon that the apartment the couple claim to live in has been vacant for many years and that they don't know of such a couple in the building, however the Baks use an excuse that they don't get along with the neighbors as an explanation to Foon. After witnessing Bak Wah jump off the roof and then reappearing without a scratch, Foon realizes that the couple are indeed actually ghosts.
Meanwhile, Foon meets certified electrician Chu Chan-chan when she approaches him in the middle of night after learning his building had a fire scare because of electrical problems. Foon wards Chan-chan off after thinking her estimated price for the repair work is too expensive, but she gets hired later by Yan who is also a former classmate of Chan-chan. When Foon tries to rid the Baks from his home they start playing tricks on him and soon Foon starts calling Chan-chan to do repair work as his thinks there are plumbing issues within his home.
Chan-chan's good deed to help Foon causes her to lose her job as she is forced to resign when she loses a huge client for the shop she works for. Due to a mean spirited former co-worker bad mouthing her she is unable to find employment elsewhere. However opportunity arises when a soon to retire shop owner is willing to sell his business to her. With the help of Yan's investment, Chan-chan becomes her own boss.
After Foon, who is a founder of a prestigious child learning center loses his job, he finds work at his friend's noodle shop, working the late shift. The noodle shop and Chan-chan's new shop happened to be right across from each other, because of this the two see each other everyday and besides bickering they also become closer.
When Foon realizes that the ghostly Baks cannot be rid, he forms a truce with them in order to co-habitat peacefully. After seeing that the Baks are friendly, peaceful ghost who will do no harm to the living, Foon and the Baks form a friendship. When the time comes that the Po home is to be sold, the Baks give in a helping hand.
Cast
Po household
- Lau Kong as Po Luk
- Bobby Au-yeung as Po Foon
- * Andrew Au as Teenage Po Foon - Ricco Ng as Young Po Foon
- Joyce Tang as Po Yan
- * Au Ming-miu as Teenage Po Yan
- Tsui Wing as Mui Chiu
- :zh:陳偲穎|Bianca Chan as Bianca Mui Siu-fei
- Jonathan Cheung as Anthony Po Yue
- * :zh:鄭耀軒|Yiub Cheng as Childhood Po Yue
- Koni Lui as Fiona Yue Fa
- :zh:張彥博|Bob Cheung as David Po Yi
- * Cyrus Ho as Childhood Po Yi
Baks
- Bowie Wu as Bak Wah
- Helena Law as Mrs. Bak - Yi Lan
- :zh:阮兒|Chloe Nguyen as Bak Wai
Friends Electrical & Plumbing
- Nancy Wu as Chu Chan-chan
- *Jacqueline Chan as Teenage Chu Chan-chan
- :zh:陳偉洪|Calvin Chan as Cheung Tsan
- :zh-yue:袁鎮業|Kelvin Yuen as Ling Bo
Cameo appearance
- Chow Chung as Chow Chung
- :zh:盧宛茵|Angelina Lo as Sik Giu
- Suet Nei as Kam Siu Mo-ching
- *Lee Yee-man as Young Kam Siu Mo-ching
- :zh:鄭敬基|Joe Tay as Kam Cha-lei
- :zh:安德尊|Anderson Junior as Michael
- Celine Ma as Suet
- :zh:于洋 |Henry Yu as Professor Tin
- :zh:張國強 |KK Cheung as KK Cheung Kwok-keung
- Jeannie Chan as Jeannie
Extended cast
- :zh:張達倫|Max Cheung as Kwai Si-fuk
- *Alex Yeung as Young Kwai Si-fuk
- Moon Lau as Liu Sing-san
- :zh:馮允謙|Jay Fung as Jay Fung
- :zh:韋家雄|Willie Wai as Wong Bak-chun
- *Leo Kwan as Young Wong Bak-chun
- :zh:李漫芬|Fanny Lee as Au Yuk-han
- Mak Ka-lun as Ming
- :zh:余子明|Yu Chi-ming as Ho Gwai
- :zh-yue:容天佑|Alex Yung as Yin
- :zh:黃建東|Derek Wong as Andy
- :zh:陳婉衡|Alycia Chan as Abby
- :zh:陳榮峻|Chan Wing-chun as Uncle Ken
- Kelvin Lee as Kuen
- Carat Cheung as Joanne Chin Cho-kwan
- :zh-yue:吳珮如|June Ng as Tracy
- :zh:范文雅|Aliya Fan as Mrs. Tou
- :zh:煒烈|Willie Lau as Mr. Tou
- :zh:麥皓兒|Joey Mak as Chiu Fong-fong
- :zh:蔡國慶 |Choi Kwok-Hing as Mr. Dung
- :zh:趙永洪|Raymond Chiu as Dickson
- Andy Lau Tin-lung as Jason
- :zh:張本立|Billy Cheung as Hugo
- :zh:楊證樺|Man Yeung as Peter
- :zh:劉桂芳|Kitty Lau as Granny Yeung
Development and production
- The costume fitting ceremony was held on November 13, 2015 12:30 pm at Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio One.
- The blessing ceremony was held on December 15, 2015 2:00 pm at Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio sixteen.
- Filming took place from November 2015 till March 2016, entirely on location in Hong Kong.
- A promo image of House of Spirits was featured in TVB's 2016 calendar for the month of July.
Viewership ratings
July 17, 2016: No episode broadcast due to airing Sunday Stage Fight.
July 23, 2016: No episode broadcast due to airing TVB Most Popular TV Commercial Awards 2016.
July 30, 2016: No episode broadcast due to airing Big Boys Club.
Awards and nominations
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
2017 | Asian Television Awards | Best Comedy Performance By An Actor/Actress | Bobby Au Yeung |
International broadcast
- - 8TV - 24 July 2018 – 4 September 2018: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm