Rear Mirror
Rear Mirror was a 2014 Hong Kong modern romance serial drama produced by TVB which starred Wayne Lai and Natalie Tong, Louisa So and Tony Hung as the main leads. The series aired from Monday to Friday and started on August 11, 2014 on TVB's Jade channel during its 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. timeslot ending September 5, 2014 after 20 episodes total.
Rear Mirror is Wayne Lai and Louisa So's first collaboration in over 10 years.
Synopsis
A single father who works as a mini bus driver that struggles to raise his young son with a severe food allergy problem alone, meets a female CEO of a huge corporation who seems to have it all on the outside but has struggles of her own due to her father's illness and family members fighting with each other for the CEO position.Storylines
Rear Mirror focuses on Anson Yiu Ngai Yan, appointed acting CEO of Yiu Gong after her father was taken ill, consolidating her position as CEO and winning over her family. Her increasingly perilous driving soon forces her to search for a driver, and Sunday Kei Yat Sing is soon appointed as her driver, being headhunted by Anson, with a promise of a place at a good school for his son, Kei Mong, who has numerous allergies and whom Sunday as raised alone for six years after his wife, Miu Man Yee, left him due to the difficulty of raising Mong. Anson soon restructures the company, but is at loggerheads with her fiancé, Bevis Fong Tin Hang, who wants her to leave Hong Kong and start a new life with him in New Zealand. She initially postpones the wedding for six months, but after that, Bevis gives her an ultimatum- it's work or him. Anson realises that she has no choice but to leave Bevis. Just weeks later, she bumps into Bevis and his new girlfriend, causing much stress. She becomes much more attached both to Sunday, her driver, and her pet dog MoMo, who Elaine Fong Yi Lin, her step-mother, uses to challenge Anson. Anson soon realises her step-brother, Jason Yiu Ngai Chung's potential and sends him off on projects across the country, which Elaine mistakenly believes to be a sign that Anson is trying to get rid of him, as he was one of the other contenders to be CEO. However, when Elaine decides to finally challenge Anson at a board meeting, she is soon shocked as that very meeting, Anson soon declares her stepbrother Jason as full of potential and sends him off on Yiu Gong's biggest project, much to Gu Suk Yin, her other step-mother's annoyance as she wanted her son, Ryan Yiu Ngai Suan, the playboy of the company to take that project. Sunday and Anson soon bond and they decide to make a picture book together, with all profits going to a charity supporting those with allergies, taking into use Sunday's photography hobby and Anson's memory of bedtime stories she was told of as a young child. Within Yiu Gong, however, Yiu Siu Wing, Bong's brother repeatedly challenges Bong's investment in the Clean Water Project, calling it a scam, but Anson continues the investment, as it is what Bong wanted her to do. This eventually leads up to Yiu Siu Wing refusing to allow any more investment in the project through his financial department. This makes Bong leave the hospital just to force a vote which results in Yiu Siu Wing leaving the company.Later, Miu Man Yee, Sunday's ex-wife returns and takes Kei Mong, wins custody in a court battle, but Kei Mong has to be forced to go leaving Miu Man Yee guilty over her actions. She reveals where Ben Shum Bok Man is heading to Anson, who speaks to Ben and Sunday wins back custody of Kei Mong. Ben asks Anson in return to lend him 5% of her shares in Yiu Gong as his company Bitin is undergoing some troubles.
Soon after, Ben buys shares from the other members of the Yiu family, until he has enough, along with the borrowed shares from Anson, to stage a hostile takeover of Yiu Gong. Anson tries to stop this, but it is too late, and Ben becomes the CEO of Yiu Gong. He asks Anson to streamline the company, which in the process will leave many employees jobless, resulting in Sunday punching him. Sunday and Anson meet at a cafe and Sunday resigns, leaving for England, as they have a possible new treatment for Kei Mong's many allergies, and Ben goes and taunts Bong as he is released from hospital. Then, the Clean Water Project, which Yiu Gong has invested heavily in, is revealed to be a scam, making Yiu Gong, a heavy investor and Bitin's stock to rapidly nosedive, shocking the whole family. An immediate board meeting is called, in which Anson advocates a cash injection, but Ben, having spent most of his cash on his hostile takeover of Yiu Gong calls for streamlining. Suddenly, Bong walks in, and tells Ben to get out of the CEO's seat in the middle of the meeting, shocking everyone. Ben laughs, calling him an delusional old man, but Bong explains that he knew that Ben was planning to takeover Yiu Gong, and that he knew that the Clean Water Project was a scam, and so he let Ben takeover Yiu Gong, knowing that he did not have enough money to do so, and would have to sell large amounts of his stock in Bitin. Bong then remained in hospital long after he recovered to let the Clean Water Project explode, and then immediately bought all the cheap Bitin stock on the market meaning that he staged a hostile takeover of Bitin, Yiu Gong's parent company so in the end, he had taken over both Bitin and Yiu Gong again, shocking his entire family and most of all Ben.
Anson leaves Hong Kong, after the shock of how her father masterminded such a cruel plan, but as she leaves realises that her father is showing the first signs of dementia. Ivan Yiu Chi Hau romantically asks Mui Man Kwan out, after dating throughout the series, gaining the confidence to do so from Anson's reign as CEO.
Three years later, she returns to Hong Kong after going around the world photographing butterflies, and after visiting her father, whose dementia has got to the point that he can only remember the past, goes to one of her favourite cafés that she used to visit with Sunday when she was the CEO of Yiu Gong. She discovers that it has come under new ownership and has turned into a photography themed café, and that the new owner is none other than Sunday himself, who had started a photography themed café whilst he was in England and is now expanding his business worldwide, in Beijing and Hong Kong. Having improved her driving skills, she drives Sunday off into the sunset.
Cast
Main Cast
- Wayne Lai as Sunday Kei Yat Sing 祈逸昇
- Natalie Tong as Mui Man Kwan 梅敏君
- Louisa So as Anson Yiu Ngai Yan 饒毅昕
- Tony Hung as Ivan Yiu Chi Hau 饒至孝
Supporting cast
Yiu family
- Chung King-fai as Yiu Siu Bong 饒兆邦
- Lau Kong as Yiu Siu Wing 饒兆榮
- Susan Tse as Gu Suk Yin 顧淑賢
- Mary Hon as Elaine Fong Yi Ling 方綺鈴
- Benjamin Yuen as Jason Yiu Ngai Chung 饒毅忠
- Stanley Cheung as Ryan Yiu Ngai Suan 饒毅信
Kei family
- Lily Leung as Pauline Tse Hau Lin 謝巧蓮
- Elaine Yiu as Miu Man Yee 梅敏儀,
- Yiub Cheng as Kei Mong 祈望
Hung family
- :zh:樊亦敏|Amy Fan as Hung Lai Sa 洪麗莎
- Ronald Law as Hung Tsz Long 洪子朗
Yiu Gong Building Materials Corp.
- Ram Chiang as Yue Dai Chi 余大智
- Li Shing-cheong as Po Yung Jun 蒲勇進
- :zh:張國強 |KK Cheung as Ben Shum Bok Man 沈博文
- Man Yeung as Fai 輝
- Jennifer Shum as Cindy
- Kibby Lau as JoJo
- Ali Lee as Yuen Ka Bo 阮嘉寶. Ivan's ex-girlfriend.
- Brian Chu as Andy
- Kyle Tse as Derek
- Leo Lee as CK
- Dolby Kwan as Leo
- Eddie Ho as George
- Calvin Chan as France
- Burmie Wong as Joyce
- Ip Ting Chi as Dora
- Albert Lo as Lawyer Yip 葉律師
Other cast
- Geoffrey Wong as Bevis Fong Tin Hang 方天恒
- Steve Lee Ka Ding as Ha San Fu 夏山虎
- Bing Man Tam as Bing Suk 炳叔
- Andy Sui as Wai 維
- Nicole Wan as Bertha
- So Lai Ming as Ada
- Louis Szeto as Lun 倫
- Kelvin Lee as Fei Ying 飛鷹
- Raymond Tsang as Brother Leong 良哥
- Kedar Wong as Kwok Ga Hei 郭家禧
- Hinson Chou as Ah Dong 阿東
Development
- The drama previously went by the production title of "Time for Marriage ".
- The costume fitting ceremony was held on September 12, 2013 12:30 p.m. at Tseung Kwan O TVB City Studio One.
- The blessing ceremony was held on November 26, 2013 3:30 p.m. at Tseung Kwan O TVB City.
- Filming took place from September - December 2013.
- The drama was featured in TVB's 2014 Sales Presentation.
- The drama was originally scheduled to be broadcast on April 21, 2014 at 8:30 p.m. but TVB decided to air TVS's mainland series Journey to the West 2011 instead to boast ratings, this caused controversy as Hong Kong audiences complained of the poor production quality of the "Journey to the West" series and didn't appreciate watching a mainland produced drama with poor voice dubbing instead of a locally produced Cantonese drama. Rear Mirror was then pushed back to be aired in August 2014 during TVB's Amazing Summer promotions.
Viewership Ratings