HEALING HANDS I

Starring: Lawrence Ng, Flora Chan, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Steven Ma, William So, Ada Choi, Astrid Chan, Bowie Lam
The series is very refreshing. This is probably TVB's first attempt at trying to portray the working life and personal life of doctors. It proved to be a hit series when it was released.
Lawrence Ng plays a surgeon who is very dedicated to his job. He thought that he had a happy family until he discovered that his wife has been having an affair all along. His wife seems like a shameless and unreasonable person. I just wonder how he could marry a woman like that in the first place.
Bowie Lam plays the role of a talented doctor in the ER. Although he seems to be the flirtatious type, deep down, he is still mourning and feeling guilty for his wife's death. William So is a registrar, whose goal is to become a surgeon. He is homosexual but his sexual identity is abruptly changed midway in the series.
Steven Ma and Ada Choi are both doctors in the ER. Ada at first has some misunderstandings with Lawrence but they are all cleared up as the series goes on. Nick Cheung is a hilarious factor in the series as a cop who is very dedicated to his job, straightforward, and a bit silly. Both Steven and Nick are in love with the Head Nurse played by Astrid Chan. Astrid's husband died a few years before that and she is living with the in-law family. To complicate things further, Astrid's sister-in-law is in love with Steven. Steven Ma is also attracted to an intern played by Jojo Cho but she has a history that he cannot accept.
The casting is great. After playing a couple in "Files of Justice V", Lawrence and Ada reunite in this series, and they have great chemistry. Somehow, I feel that Lawrence was very stiff in his other series (like "Till When Do Us Part", he and Kenix Kwok had no chemistry, but that is beside the point). Yet the most convincing couple should be Bowie Lam and Flora Chan. They seem really cool on the surface but the audience could see the feelings, the passion, and the chemistry between them. One thing I don't like about this series is the love life of William's character. Everything is too abrupt, like how his sexual identity changes, and how he falls in love with the prostitute -- all of which do not make any sense to me.
Another actor in the series who has certainly won the approval of the audience is Nick Cheung. It is a sudden change from his villain role in "Secret of the Heart". His character in here is just hilarious.
There are flaws in this series though, just like any other TV series. I think the procedures being carried out in the ER are too slow, it's like they are doing a demo (so don't compare this series with the US's hit ER). One more annoying factor is the society's perception of doctors. The series emphasizes that they are all very busy, they don't even have time for their families, so how come they are at the pub every night and drinking alcohol like a "dai hup" in kung-fu series?
Overall, the series is enjoyable and is a great series in its own right. I would highly recommend it as it has a great cast and an interesting plot.
PS This is not my review, Eastern Heroes and A Satge of Turbulence are the only series that I wrote a review for. Don't be upset at me that I didn't post up a review for Healing Hands II & III. To me the Healing Hands the first one is the best. Ada Choi as Jackie died in the second one and Lawrence Ng bacame boyfriend of Yoyo Mung ( who I hated the most). Also, this is the funniest one in all three Healing Hands, and it is the seri I loved the most of Ada Choi. Thanks for enjoy the-review-that-didn't-made-by-me.