New Series 'Special Duties Unit' Tour Bus hostage scene canceled by TVB

A few days ago, TVB new series Special Duties Unit was shooting a scene very similar to the Filipino Tour Bus Hostage incident and led to a lot of objection. Even Kenneth Ma, who played the criminal, was worried that his image may be affected.

Initially, producer Lam Chi Wah made arrangements for the media to visit the set yesterday, but eventually TVB's Foreign Affairs canceled the visit. Later, reporters found out that after reviewing the opinions and formal research , the related parties agreed that the storyline is too sensitive, therefore TVB decided to accept the oppositions and cancel the scene. Reporters contacted TVB Foreign Affairs Director (Tsang Sing Ming) for more details. He said: "The producer stressed that the scene is not based on the Filipino Tour Bus Hostage incident, but because the public is disturbed by this scene, we are worried that it may cause pain to the people of Hong Kong's hearts, so we decided to cancel the scene."

When asked if TVB had a lot of financial lost from all the machinery, equipment and other production costs used for the scene, Mr. Tsang said: "Calculating that aspect is not important, TVB won't use money to measure the situation, but rather we want to take audiences' feelings into account. As for the loss of production cost, it can be handled."

Regarding the cancellation of the tour bus hostage scene, Joe expressed that he is fore the company's decision. He said: "TVB is taking 'audiences' feeling into account by making this decision. I will support them. (Is the filming schedule affected?) I don't know how things will change, have to ask the producer. Today I just received a notice that there is a change, the whole story, I am not sure yet."

Source: Oriental Daily

Translator: aZnangel@AEU