One Child (TV series)

One Child is a 2014 BBC and Sundance TV drama miniseries. Following its initial two-night premiere on Sundance TV, it aired as part of the BBC's China season in 2016, where it was shown over three sixty-minute episodes. The series follows a girl called Mei Ashley (Katie Leung) who discovers that she has a brother, Li Jun (Sebastian So), that she never knew about and that he is due to be sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit.[1]

One Child
One Child title sequence
GenreDrama
Written byGuy Hibbert
Directed byJohn Alexander
StarringKatie Leung
Elizabeth Perkins
Donald Sumpter
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Hong Kong
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerHilary Salmon
CinematographyMatt Gray BSC
Production companySundance TV
Release
Original networkSundance TV
Original release5 December (2014-12-05) –
6 December 2014 (2014-12-06)

Cast
  • Katie Leung as Mei Ashley, a girl who finds she has a brother.
  • Donald Sumpter as Jim Ashley, Mei's adoptive father.
  • Elizabeth Perkins as Katherine Ashley, Mei's adoptive mother.
  • Mardy Ma as Liu Ying, Mei's biological mother.
  • Sebastian So as Li Jun, Mei's brother.
  • Linh Dan Pham as Pan Qianyi, a journalist.
  • Junix Inocian as Lin Zhouqing, a private detective.
  • Harry Wong as Guan Xiaopeng, the murderer.
  • Selina Lo as Xu Lian, witness to the murder.

Episodes

One Child aired in sixty-minute episodes for its UK release,[1] but originally aired in ninety-minute episodes as a two-night special event.[2][3] For its digital release on streaming platforms, it has retained the three-episode format presented here.

# Title Directed by Written by Original airdate
1"Episode One"John AlexanderGuy Hibbert17 February 2016 (2016-02-17) (UK)
Mei was adopted from China as a baby by parents living in the United Kingdom. She gets a message from a Chinese journalist called Pan Qianyi telling her that she has a brother who is due to be executed for a crime he did not commit.
2"Episode Two"John AlexanderGuy Hibbert24 February 2016 (2016-02-24) (UK)
Mei hires a private detective, Lin Zhouqing, to make the witnesses change their police statements to the truth.
3"Episode Three"John AlexanderGuy Hibbert2 March 2016 (2016-03-02) (UK)
The final hearing for Li Jun is held and Mei is offered a choice.

Filming

One Child is set in Guangzhou but was filmed in Hong Kong and Britain, as under Chinese law before anything is filmed all scripts have to be approved by the Chinese government but this law does not apply in Hong Kong as it is an administrative region.[4][5]

"In order to film in China the whole project needs to approved and we didn’t attempt that. We didn’t imagine that the scripts would be approved,"

— Interview with Hilary Salmon (executive producer), Radio Times.[4]

"while the drama depicts a clear case of police corruption, the Chinese Government are making strides in tackling similar problems and that they have “nothing to fear” from the drama."

— Interview with Guy Hibbert (writer), Radio Times.[4]

References
  1. "One Child (3x60 mins)". BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  2. "BBC Two announce compelling new drama commission by Guy Hibbert, One Child". BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. "New Premiere Date: SundanceTV's Mini-Series "One Child" Airs December 5th and 6th at 9pm ET/PT". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  4. Dowell, Ben (2 February 2016). "BBC drama One Child filmed in Hong Kong to avoid censorship from Chinese authorities". Radio Times. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. Tatlow, Didi Kirsten (30 November 2014). "Opaque Justice in China: Katie Leung Stars in 'One Child' by Guy Hibbert". The New York Times.
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