Phua Chu Kang

Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd is a Singaporean sitcom on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.

Plot Summary and Cast

Phua Chu Kang

The series revolves around the Phua family, most notably Phua Chu Kang (Gurmit Singh), a contractor who boasts that he is the "Best in Singapore, JB, and some say Batam" and he is noted for his famous cliché or catchphrase: "Don't play play" (pronounce as "pray pray" according to his articulation). His personal clothing trademarks are his yellow pair of boots, curly hair, a giant mole, plus his two long nails on each pinky finger. This is despite the fact that he only has two men working for him and they are both inept and lazy. Phua Chu Kang is portrayed as an Ah Beng, Singlish slang for a stereotypical Chinese gangster, complete with habits such as hoisting one leg up on the seat of a chair when he sits down and growing one long fingernail to scratch his ears. He is also known for his unusually large mole.

His family and others

Phua Chu Kang lives with his wife, Rosie (Irene Ang) who loves playing mahjong and colourful clothings. At the end of Season 6, she gave birth to twins, Romeo Ferrari and Crystal Jade. Chu Kang's brother is Anthony Phua Chu Beng (Pierre Png) who works for PCK Pte Ltd as an architect. While Chu Kang is often regarded as strong but stupid, Chu Beng is the sissy but smart son. The one person who drives Chu Beng crazy is his obsessive compulsive vegetarian wife, Margaret Phua (Tan Kheng Hua) who consistently makes fun of her brother and sister in law. Together, they have a son, Aloysious Phua (Marcus Ng) who worships his uncle more than his dad. Another family member is Ah Ma (Neo Swee Lin), Chu Kang and Chu Beng's mother. She left at the end of Season 4. Chu Kang's two lazy workers are King Kong (Charlie Tan) who loves tau huey and Ah Goon (Ray Kuan) who dresses in revealing denim cut-offs all the time.

Recurring and Minor Characters plus Guest Appearances

*Betsy Foo played by Patricia Mok (in season 6).
*Bobo played by Afdlin Shauki (in season 6 and season 7).
*Candy Chew played by Sharon Au (in season 7).
*Dickson Foo played by Teoh Kah Yeong (in season 6).
*Frankie Foo (younger) played by Kay Siu Lim (somewhere before season 5)
*Frankie Foo (older) played by Patrick Teoh (occur in some certain seasons).
*Lee Kok Peng played by Mark Lee (in season 5 until season 7).
*Lim Pek Kong played by Kee Thuan Chye (in season 5).
*Lynette Khoo played by Caroline Cheong (in season 5 until season 7).
*Mrs. Lopez played by Jamie Yeo (in season 6).
*Posh Voter played by Gillian Tan (in season 5).
*Ricky Martin played by himself (in season 6).
*Ting Ting played by Zoe Tay (in season 5).

Production history

The Phua Chu Kang character made his first appearance in the second season of "Gurmit's World", a comedy in which Gurmit Singh portrayed his 'relatives' in a series of skits.

In addition, PCK handed out clues at one of the detours of The Amazing Race 3. Participants in the race were required to locate an apartment in Singapore where they would be given the clues by PCK. Apparently, the original idea was to have PCK at the pit stop alongside Phil Keoghan (at the end of every stage of The Amazing Race, there would be a local person dressed in traditional clothing welcoming the contestants to the country), but Singaporeans protested that this would give foreigners the wrong impression of the local people in general.

The last season of Phua Chu Kang is about to premiere in Singapore, with the station finally deciding to end the series after such a successful run.

Singlish criticism

Main article: Singlish

Ever since this popular comedy is notable for its Singlish language conversation and dialogue amongst, by, or between the characters in this comedy show most of the time, thus the other word or another term for Singlish was coined by some local people which can also be known as "Phua Chu Kanglish".

Much like another Singaporean sitcom, Under One Roof, Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd is pressured by the government to use proper English instead of Singlish. Critics of the show have labelled Phua Chu Kang as an inaccurate or disgraceful representation of Singapore. However, it has to be acknowledged that Phua Chu Kang is immensely popular in Singapore and Malaysia.

Episodes

Season 1 (?)

Season 2 (?)

Season 3 (?)

Season 4 (?)

Season 5 (Tuesday, 8 pm)

*1. (5 November 2002): The Zen of Chapteh
*2. (12 November 2002): Not the 7 o'clock news
*3. (19 November 2002): The Parent Trap
*4. (26 November 2002): Toto Day
*5. (3 December 2002): The Return of Frankie Foo
*6. (10 December 2002): Chilly Crabs
*7. (17 December 2002): Christmas Story
*8. (7 January 2003): Study No Enough
*9. (14 January 2003): Lord of the Bengs
*10. (21 January 2003): Cinema Phua-radiso
*11. (28 January 2003): Lucky Luohan
*12. (4 February 2003): Year of the Goat
*13. (11 February 2003): The Girl Next Door
*14. (18 February 2003): I Want My HDB (Part 1)
*15. (25 February 2003): When King Kong Met Wei Wei
*16. (4 March 2003): Sabo You, Sabo Me
*17. (11 March 2003): At WITS End
*18. (18 March 2003): The Adventures of Captain Contractor and Plumber Boy
*19. (25 March 2003): Centrefold
*20. (1 April 2003): An Offer You Can't Refuse
*21. (8 April 2003): PCK Goes To Malaysia - Part 1
*22. (15 April 2003): PCK Goes To Malaysia - Part 2

Season 6 (Tuesday, 8 pm)

*1. (21 October 2003): Phua Phua Baby
*2. (28 October 2003): Boy Oh Boy
*3. (4 November 2003): The Deal
*4. (11 November 2003): What About Me?
*5. (18 November 2003): Father Knows Best
*6. (25 November 2003): Nature vs. Nurture
*7. (2 December 2003): Worst Case Scenario
*8. (9 December 2003): He Ain't Heavy He's My Baby
*9. (16 December 2003): All The President's Men
*10. (23 December 2003): Livin' La Vida Rosie
*11. (30 December 2003):
*12. (6 January 2004): Toilet of the Year
*13. (13 January 2004): Pissing Contest
*14. (20 January 2004): Citizen Phua
*15. (27 January 2004): The New Phua

Season 7 (Tuesday, 8 pm)

*1. (16 November 2004)
*2. (23 November 2004)
*3. (30 November 2004)
*4. (7 December 2004)
*5. (14 December 2004)
*6. (21 December 2004)
*7. (28 December 2004)
*8. (4 January 2005)
*9. (11 January 2005)
*10. (18 January 2005)
*11. (25 January 2005)
*12. (1 February 2005)
*13. (8 February 2005)
*14. (15 February 2005)
*15. (22 February 2005)
*16. (1 March 2005)

Trivia

*Gurmit Singh, who played the lead role of PCK, is also one the Singapore Idol hosts, along with Daniel Ong.
* Ah Goon (played by Ray Kuan) is the goondu (stupid) of the show. In reality, Ray is actually the one with the most impressive academic qualifications of the entire cast. He graduated with honors in Building and Real Estate from the National University of Singapore.
* Ah Goon is the worker replacing Ah Boon and Ah Soon who also played as Chu Kang's employers in the earlier episodes. They are related as cousins in the series. They also appeared together in an episode featuring them as an upcoming boy band.

External links

* IMDb.com entry for Phua Chu Kang
* Official site
* Season Site
* PCK Musical