The Winter Melon Tale
The Winter Melon Tale (Traditional Chinese: 大冬瓜, translated literally into Big Winter Melon) is a TVB costume drama series broadcast in March 2009.
| The Winter Melon Tale | |
|---|---|
 Official poster | |
| 大冬瓜 | |
| Genre | Costume Drama |
| Starring | Liu Kai Chi Sunny Chan Louisa So Rain Lau Nancy Wu |
| Country of origin | Hong Kong |
| Original language | Cantonese |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes (approx.) |
| Release | |
| Original network | TVB |
| Original release | March 9 – April 3, 2009 |
| The Winter Melon Tale | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 大冬瓜 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 大冬瓜 | ||||||||||
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Synopsis
Fan Tung (Liu Kai Chi) is one of the four deities under the Stove God. He has offended the Queen Mother of the West of being ravenous and gets imprisoned for 500 years in the winter melon. By chance Tin Dai Kwai (Sunny Chan) and his wife Chung Bik Yuk (Louisa So) free him from constraint. Tung gets flattened by Kwai's older brother Tin Tai Fu (also played by Liu Kai Chi) accidentally and his spirit enters Fu's body inexplicably while losing all his instincts.
Tung starts living in Kwai's house and getting closer to the family. Yuk finds Tung suspicious and she tries to unmask him by all means. Having failed in his attempt to return to Heaven, Tung becomes reliant on the help of six little deities who assimilated his instincts released from the melon, and since then Tung is aware of the fickleness of human nature. One day, Fu's truant wife Ling Fung (Lau Yuk Chui) suddenly returns. She ruins everything and even causes the death of Kwai. In order to get his life back, Tung illicitly breaks into the netherworld.
Cast
Peasants
| Cast | Role | Description |
| Liu Kai Chi | Tin Dai-Fu 田大富 | Tin Dai-Kwai's older brother. Ling Fung's husband. |
| Sunny Chan | Tin Dai-Kwai 田大貴 | Tin Dai-Fu's younger brother. Chung Bik-Yuk's husband. |
| Louisa So | Chung Bik-Yuk 鍾碧玉 | Tin Dai-Kwai's wife. |
| Rain Lau | Ling Fung 凌鳳 | Tin Dai-Fu's second wife. |
| Ellesmere Choi | Wut Gei 屈機 | Doctor Chung Bik-Wun's husband. |
| Natalie Wong | Chung Bik-Wun 鍾碧雲 | Wut Gei's wife. Chung Yiu-Jo and Chung Bik-Yuk's sister. |
| Jack Wu | Chung Yiu-Jo 鍾耀祖 | Inventor Chung Bik-Wun and Chung Bik-Yuk's younger brother. |
Gods and Monsters
| Cast | Role | Description |
| Liu Kai Chi | Fan Tung 范統 | Stove God's Deity Yuen Sa Sin-Tsi's husband. |
| Louisa So | Yuen Sa Sin-Tzi 浣紗仙子 | Stove God's Deity Fan Tung's wife. |
| Nancy Wu | Fok Sze-Sze 霍思思 | Fox Spirit |
| Helen Tam | Wong Mo Leung-Leung 皇母娘娘 | Queen Mother of the West |
Viewership ratings
| Week | Episode | Average Points | Peaking Points | References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 9–13, 2009 | 1 — 5 | 27 | 29 | [1] |
| 2 | March 16–20, 2009 | 6 — 10 | 26 | — | [2] |
| 3 | March 23–26, 2009 | 11 — 14 | 26 | — | [3] |
| 4 | March 30 - April 2, 2009 | 15 — 19 | 27 | — | [4] |
| April 3, 2009 | 20 | 26 | — | [5] |
External links
- TVB.com The Winter Melon Tale - Official Website (in Chinese)