If you are learning Cantonese, and looking for Cantonese TV drama. Here are some suggestions for you!
1. Triumph in the Skies 衝上雲宵
This is one of the best TV drama series produced by TVB in 2003. It is about the lives of pilots and air waitresses working in a fictional Airways company called Solar Airways, which is based on Cathay Pacific. The main casts are Francis Ng and Flora Chan. If you are fans of Hong Kong gangs movies series, you should probably hear of Francis Ng with his character Ugly Kwan in Young and Dangerous (1995).
If you have finished watching the Triumph in the Skies and you love the stories. Triumph in the Skies II should be your next choice. The sequel aired in 2013 on TVB Jade channel and did become the talk of the town. However, I have to say the opening theme of the first one is ten times better than the sequel one.
2. Off Pedder 畢打自己人
If you like office scenario drama, Off Pedder may be the choice for you. The stories happened in Chao (潮) Magazine. By the way, Chao is an adjective means fashionable and popular in Cantonese. This sitcom is the extension from Best Selling Secrets. The main cast of the Best Selling Secrets quitted the drama, so they sort of transferred the stories to make a new drama series. I personally recommend this drama because you can learn a lot of daily expressions when watching it.
3. Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir! 點解阿Sir係阿Sir
I rarely watch TVB's drama now, but I had watched this one. It is all about the stories happened in a notorious school, in Hong Kong we called it a Band 3 school. You may come across with a lot of slang because most of the plots are about the youngsters. You can also have a glimpse of the problem we are facing in an ordinary secondary school in Hong Kong.
HK Drama series are becoming harder to find with the popularity of Korean and Japanese Drama the last few years, but you can still find a lot. If you're not concerned with quality and living outside HK and don't have the options to subscribe to the one or two Chinese stations your cable provider might charge you an arm and a leg for, you can just google 'streaming Hong Kong drama'.
Be prepared for annoying ads and some questionable content sometimes, but the diligent and careful can find some good sites that are fairly reliable in providing current and past series and variety shows. Generally you have to initially close an ad to watch. Good ones will provide a number of sources for each episode. Some sites even present only series that have been subtitled in English, but these will not be the latest series.
These shows stream in a quality that some people won't be able to tolerate, but I love the shows and the chance to hear the language, and think there has to be a trade off for watching it for only the price of my internet connection.
Personally I prefer the historical dramas for some reason...
Ghost Dragon of Cold Mountain – 寒山潛龍
Storm in a Cocoon-守業者
Gilded Chopsticks – 食為奴
Men Don't Cry - 奸人堅
A Fistful of Stances - 鐵馬尋橋
etc...
Super Snoops – 荃加福祿壽探案 was funny...we loved it...
You can buy legitimate copies of some series at sites like YesAsia, but I learned the hard way that often even if you are trying to buy legitamate copies from a brick-and-mortor Chinese video store you could end up with a rip of the series in laser printed packaging :(
You can see HKTV
Thanks for these resources!
Thanks Priscilla, I've watched young and dangerous and it's pretty entertaining. Can you suggest where I can find these tv dramas with english subtitles?
This is very helpfull! I was looking for a good hk drama, thank you!
