12 years after the sitcom’s final episode, the cast of “Police and Thief” were reunited for CNA‘s “On The Red Dot”.
Unsurprisingly, hilarity ensued as comedians Mark Lee and Suhaimi Yusof reminisced about on-set antics.
However, there was one moment of poignancy, involving the actors that played the children in the sitcom.
“Please lah, the three of you,” said Lee, referring to Danial Ashriq, Hafiz Nasir, and Glenn Wong, “always bully one girl.”
“I always thought that there was something about me that you three do not like,” said Ang Ching Hui — who played Lee’s onscreen daughter Xiao Yun.
“That’s why you guys were quite mean.”
“I was very upset”
Danial and Hafiz played Suhaimi’s sons Rafi and Rudy respectively, while Wong was cast as Xiao Yun’s brother Xiao Long.
The children’s ages would have ranged from 11 to 14 in 2004, the year that “Police and Thief” first aired.
Ang, 29, who was the youngest of the adolescent cast members and was 11 when the series aired, recalled one incident where the boys locked her in a fitting room.
Another unpleasant memory involved a scene where the kids were throwing items around the house — “we were supposed to be quite chaotic,” Ang said — but when the scene ended the boys continued throwing items at her.
“There was a time when filming had to stop because I was very upset. I got really mad,” said Ang.
Hafiz, who is 32 today and the oldest of the four, said that at one point Ang’s mother took him aside to speak about the bullying.
“I remember Hafiz coming to me and telling me that it’s gonna stop, and I remember that very very distinctly because I was so moved,” Ang said.
The segment on the reunion ended with the once-child actors apologising to Ang; “I’m really sorry that I caused so much hurt during those seasons,” said Wong.
“I do forgive everybody and everything,” Ang concluded.
There were more lighthearted off-screen moments shared about the children too, such as when Hafiz left a burn mark in Suhaimi’s car while “experimenting” with a cigarette lighter.
Moving on from acting
While they were involved in six seasons of the beloved local sitcom, only Danial, 31, has continued acting.
Hafiz said his job title is “process technician”.
“In a manufacturing plant, I produce plastic,” he added.
Wong works as a civil servant, while Ang — who was an avid drawer on set — now works as a computer graphics artist at a Japanese company.
Despite the behind-the-scenes high jinks, producers for the show said that the children were consummate professionals once the cameras started rolling.
“The children were a very important part of ‘Police and Thief’ and they all had very good chemistry with Mark Lee and Suhaimi,” said Ngin Chiang Meng, the show’s headwriter.
Top image from Ang Ching Hui’s Instagram and CNA
