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atering to an evolving appetite for localized entertainment in its Asian market, HBO Asia is pioneering its first and very own drama series, Serangoon Road.

The 10-episode series that is co-produced by HBO Asia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation Television (ABC Australia) takes place in 1960s Singapore.

Serangoon Road, which was the name of the main road in Singapore in that era, follows the Cheng Detective Agency that handles various cases, from the day-to-day '€“ straying spouses, petty fraudsters '€“ to complicated conspiracy and events with cross-border ramifications.

After her husband is killed while working on a case, widowed Patricia Cheng (played by Joan Chen) asks Sam Calaghan (Don Hany) to help her to resume running her husband'€™s detective agency. Patricia is not a detective and she knows that the agency needs a good investigator with strong contact base in the local community and among expatriates '€“ all that Sam has.

Sam'€™s contacts from his military days are useful, yet, the cases at the agency drag him back into the dark path that he had preferred to leave behind.

Aiming to bring the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the harbor city of the era, Serangoon Road boasts an international cast including Chen (The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks TV series), Chin Han (The Dark Night, Contagion), as well as Hany (White Collar Blue TV series, Lucky Miles).

Representing Singapore, Indonesia and Australia are respectively Alaric Tay (18 Grams of Love), Pamelyn Chee (Little Nyonya) and Ario Bayu (Java Heat, Dead Mine) as well as Maeve Dermody (Brothers in Arms), Rachael Blake (Wilside) and Michael Dorman (Daybreakers).

'€œThe Serangoon Road in 1960s is represented as the main road that connected the whole of Singapore. Different communities lived in many parts of Singapore but the road linked every part of it,'€ said HBO Asia communications director Karen Lai on the sidelines of the series'€™ launch in Jakarta recently.

Being the channel'€™s first original series, Lai said that she was confident that the program, with its heavy local ambiance, would grab its viewers'€™ attention.

 '€œHBO has always been a blockbuster movie channel, we'€™ve always been known for our Hollywood blockbusters '€“ bringing the best, the latest to our channel,'€ said Lai, '€œbut times have changed, and currently we feel that there'€™s more interest and appetite for local productions.'€

She explained that in the past Asian audiences were more into Hollywood-type programs while now viewers are more into localized programs with an '€œinternational flavor'€.

Prior to Serangoon Road, HBO Asia produced its first original feature film, Dead Mine, in which Ario Bayu also took part.

Ario said that being involved in HBO Asia'€™s latest production gave him a greater opportunity to develop his international acting career.

'€œIt'€™s been great to take part in such a production. I felt the excitement of having the chance to meet with people who have the same passion as I have. Going to work was definitely fun,'€ said Ario.

Ario describes his character, Inspector Amran, as a stoic policeman. '€œHe'€™s the first Malay to be a police inspector. So, he carries a lot of obligations'€.

He added that there was nothing too difficult in terms of acting during the filming. '€œNothing was really hard. Nevertheless, there was a time when I was challenged by camera positioning when I had to produce an acrobatic scene.'€

Much of Serangoon Road was shot in a 15,000-square-foot sound stage in Batam, while other parts were filmed in Singapore. The filming, started in August 2012, was completed in six months.

The series features over 160 visual effects shots ranging from removing modern fixtures like road signs to creating entire buildings and cityscapes from scratch and re-creating exterior shots of the Duke Hotel, Changi Prison and the Singapore Harbour of the 1960s.

The stunt team who created the numerous chase scenes, fight sequences and explosions in the series is made up of people who were involved in Thor, Battleship and Star Trek.

The series will be aired on HBO Asia channel in 23 countries starting from Sept. 22, as well as in ABC channel.

Serangoon Road
Premiere on Sept. 22
Every Sunday at 8 p.m. on HBO