A Watchdog's Tale (Traditional Chinese: 老友狗狗, literally Friends of Dogs), is a 2010 TVB modern drama series. It stars Linda Chung and Steven Ma as the main leads, with Kent Cheng, Natalie Tong, Raymond Wong and Maggie Shiu as the major supporting cast.

A Watchdog's Tale
Official poster
老友狗狗
GenreModern Drama
StarringLinda Chung
Steven Ma
Kent Cheng
Natalie Tong
Raymond Wong
Maggie Shiu
Opening theme"老友狗狗" by
Steven Ma & Linda Chung
Country of originHong Kong
Original languageCantonese
No. of episodes20
Production
ProducerLeung Choi Yuen
Running time45 minutes (approx.)
Original release
NetworkTVB
ReleaseDecember 28, 2009 (2009-12-28) –
January 23, 2010 (2010-01-23)
A Watchdog's Tale
Title screen shot
Traditional Chinese老友狗狗
Simplified Chinese老友狗狗
Literal meaning"Friends of Dogs"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǎo Yǒu Gǒu Gǒu
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingLou5 Jau5 Gau2 Gau2

Synopsis

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Lai Chun Sing (Kent Cheng) has been in the police force for 30 years. During one investigation, his assistant police dog sacrificed its life to save him. Struck by the death, Sing decided to join the Police Dog Unit. In 25 years, he advanced from a dog caretaker to an instructor and he now plans to use his retirement money to open a dog care center, allowing dog owners to bring their dogs for training and play.

Sing's wife died a long time ago, but left him with an obedient daughter, Lai Sin Yue (Linda Chung). Yue follows after her father and loves animals as if they were human. This eventually leads Yue to become a veterinarian. She later decides to help her dad and moves to the countryside to help with his dog care center. Her determination is driven by the fact that she wants to make sure all animals are treated lovingly.

In the countryside, they soon meet the rowdy bunch that lives there. Chow Yung Kung (Steven Ma) is the renovator who is in charge of preparing the dog care center. Yue and Kung initially start off on the wrong foot, but the two eventually start developing feelings for each other as they spend more time together. They start to fall in love with each other, but Sing refuses to accept Kung as his daughter's boyfriend, saying that Kung has no education and no stable job. To make things more complicated, Kung's ex-girlfriend (Queenie Chu) reappears with a vengeance.

The two side stories involve Chiang Tin-Ngo (Maggie Shiu), her brother Tin-Hung (Joseph Lee), Chou Ka-Man (Natalie Tong), and Ho Tin-Yau (Raymond Wong Ho-yin). Tin-Hung has always been looked down upon by his father and sister as a failure. He wants to start his own business, but his father will not loan him the money, believing all of his son's ideas are bound to end up a disaster. His sister refuses to help him plead their father, so Tin-Hung resorts to kidnapping Tin-Ngo and demanding their father for a large sum of money.

Tin-Ngo then devotes herself to finding the kidnapper, believing it is someone in the nearby countryside. She monitors all of the villagers closely, looking for something suspicious. She even decides to move in to study them closer. Tin-Hung, scared that his sister might figure out the kidnapper was him, moves himself to the countryside too, attempting to prevent Tin-Ngo from getting any serious evidence. While she is there, Tin-Ngo starts to develop feelings for Sing, but she is rejected and runs away.

Meanwhile, Tin-Yau is a striving police officer that wants to do the best he can at his job. Ka-Man has a crush on him, but Tin-Yau refuses to admit his feelings for her. However, the two eventually become a couple. Ka-Man's dad is a drug dealer and is scared that with Tin-Yau always around the house, he'll stumble upon his hidden drugs. Ka-Man's dad tells them to break up, but Ka-Man refuses. Unknown to her, Ka-Man has been hauling around a bowling ball stuffed with crystal meth that she thinks is a present from her dad...

Will Sing learn to accept Kung and Yue? Will Yue and Kung overcome tides of difficulty? Will Tin-Ngo find out who kidnapped her? And will Ka-Man find her birth mother, as well as reconcile with her dad and Tin-Yau?

Cast

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Chow family

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Cast Role Description
Ching Hor Wai Leung Ah-ping
梁亞萍
Chow Yung-Kung's Foster Mother
Ho Tin-Yau's Aunt
Steven Ma Chow Yung-Gung
周用恭
Renovator
Lai Sin-Yue's Lover then Husband
Leung Ah-Ping's foster son
Raymond Wong Ho Tin-Yau
何天佑
Police Canine Unit Officer
Chow Yung-Gung's Younger Cousin.
Chou Ka Man's Boyfriend then Husband
Leung Ah Ping's Nephew
Lai Tsun-Sing's Disciple

Lai family

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Cast Role Description
Kent Cheng Lai Tsun-Sing
黎俊升
Retired Officer
Doggie Dog Kernel Manager
Lai Sin-Yue's father
Linda Chung Lai Sin-Yue
黎羨如
Veterinarian
Lai Tsun-Sing's daughter.
Chow Yung-Gung's Lover then Wife

Cheung Sing Village

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Cast Role Description
Natalie Tong Chou Ka-Man (Carman)
周嘉汶
Chou Wai Wai's Daughter
Ho Tin-Yau's Girlfriend then wife
Kwok Fung
(郭鋒)
Chou Wai-Wai
周偉威
Chou Ka Man's father
Drug Dealer then opened a book store instead of the bar in episode 20
Manager of a Bar then Manager of a book store
Yvonne Lam
Chan Mei Leen
陳美蓮
Owner Of Local Store
Chow Yung Fat's wife
Ram Chiang
Chow Yung Fat
周用發
Owner of Local Store
Chan Mei Leen's husband

Chiang family

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Cast Role Description
Wu Fung Cheung Ying Gwun
蔣應鈞
Chiang Tin-Ngo and Chiang Tin-Hung's father
Joseph Lee Chiang Tin-Hung
蔣天雄
Chiang Tin-Ngo's older brother
Ma Cheuk Ling's lover
Maggie Shiu Chiang Tin-Ngo
蔣天娥
Chiang Tin Hung's younger sister
In love with Lai Tsun-Sing

Other cast

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Cast Role Description
Koni Lui Ma Cheuk-Ling
馬卓玲
Undercover Police Officer WPC66349
Chiang Tin Hung's lover
Queenie Chu Yun See See
院思思
Chow Yung Gung's ex-girlfriend
Discovered mental
Mak Cheung-ching Ngan Dai Keung
顏大強
Triad leader
Shermon Tang Wong Ka Man
黃雅文 (Jessie)
Police Officer

Awards and nominations

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TVB Anniversary Awards (2010)

Next TV Awards (2010)

  • Won: Top 10 TV series (No.8)
  • Won: Top 10 TV artists (Linda Chung - No.6)

Viewership ratings

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Week Episodes Average Points Peaking Points References
1 December 28, 2009 - January 1, 2010 1 — 5 30 33 [1]
2 January 4–6, 2010 6 — 8 31 [2]
3 January 11–15, 2010 9 — 13 32 34 [3]
4 January 18–22, 2010 14 — 18 31 [4]
January 23, 2010 19 — 20 32 35 [4]

References

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  • TVB.com A Watchdog's Tale - Official Website (in Chinese)