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True Files

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True Files
GenreCrime
StarringLim Kay Tong
Tay Ping Hui
Country of originSingapore
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes62
Production
Running timeapprox. 20 minutes
Original release
NetworkMediaCorp
Release22 April 2002 –
18 March 2007
Related
True Courage

True Files (Chinese: 真实档案) is an English language television docu-drama telecast on MediaCorp Channel 5, with each episode (except the last episode of Season 3, The Unsolved) re-enacting major High Court cases of crimes, mostly murder, in Singapore. When the inaugural season was telecast in 2002, its first episode was re-slotted to be telecast later, when numerous public feedback was received by the station complaining that it was too graphic after watching trailers for the pilot episode. The show was also pushed back to a 10 p.m. time slot from the second episode onwards as a result. Nonetheless, the hype helped the show to enjoy favourable viewership ratings. Over five years, a total of five seasons had been telecasted, with the final season airing in 2007.

The show was hosted by veteran actor Lim Kay Tong from Seasons 1 to 4. In Season 5, the host is Tay Ping Hui, and the narration is done by Brian Richmond.

The programme also had some episodes telecast in the Chinese version on MediaCorp Channel 8, with cases in the first two seasons hosted by Edmund Chen, and the cases in season 3, 4 and 5 hosted by Chew Chor Meng.

Episodes

Season 1 (Tuesdays, 10.00 p.m. (8:30 p.m. for first episode))

File:True Files Lee Kim Lai 1.jpg
Screenshot showing the body of Lee Kim Lai found on 25 April 1978 in the backseat of a taxi in a re-enactment of his murder on True Files, MediaCorp Channel 5 in the episode entitled "The Sentry". The Chinese subtitle partly translates the English narration, which went "The sentry, Lee, suffered a total of 15 cut and stab wounds, with the fatal wound being a double stab wound in the neck"
  • 1. (23 April 2002): The Trial of Adrian Lim (Public Prosecutor v Adrian Lim and Others [1983])
  • 2. (30 April 2002): Gold Bars Triple Murders (Public Prosecutor v Chou Hock Guan Andrew and Others [1972])
  • 3. (7 May 2002): The Trial of Mimi Wong (Public Prosecutor v Wong Mimi and Another [1970])
  • 4. (14 May 2002): Who Killed Winnie Spencer? (Public Prosecutor v Joseph Michael Nonis [1950])
  • 5. (21 May 2002): Cries of A Child (Public Prosecutor v Ng Cha Bee [1976])
  • 6. (28 May 2002): The Trial of Sunny Ang (Public Prosecutor v Sunny Ang [1965])
  • 7. (4 June 2002): The Tenant (Public Prosecutor v Michael Tan Teow and Another [1985])
  • 8. (11 June 2002): The Paedophile (
  • 9. (18 June 2002): The Sentry (Public Prosecutor v Ong Hwee Kuan and Others [1979])
  • 10. (25 June 2002): The Horror! (Public Prosecutor v Ong Li Xia and Another [2000] SGHC 149)
  • 11. (2 July 2002): Tourist From Hell (Public Prosecutor v John Martin Scripps [1995])
  • 12. (9 July 2002): Murder For Coins (Public Prosecutor v Lau Lee Peng [1999] SGHC 315)
  • 13. (16 July 2002): Trusting Your Killer (Public Prosecutor v Shaiful Edham bin Adam and Another [1998] SGHC 364)
  • 14. (23 July 2002): The Burnt Body Case (Public Prosecutor v Ramu Annadavascan and Another [1984])

Season 2 (Tuesdays, 10.00 p.m.)

  • 1. (26 August 2003): Murder He Wrote (Public Prosecutor v Anthony Ler Wee Teang and Another [2001] SGHC 361)
  • 2. (2 September 2003): Triple Murder (Public Prosecutor v Sek Kim Wah [1985])
  • 3. (9 September 2003): Maid Abused To Death (Public Prosecutor v Ng Hua Chye [2002] SGHC 154)
  • 4. (16 September 2003): The School Bus Driver (Public Prosecutor v Oh Laye Koh [1994] SGHC 20)
  • 5. (23 September 2003): Murder Of Inspector T Maniam (Public Prosecutor v Loganatha Venkatesan and Others [2000] SGHC 38)
  • 6. (30 September 2003): The Duck Den Murder (Public Prosecutor v Lim Chin Chong [1998] SGHC 49)
  • 7. (7 October 2003): Murder Of Her Landlady (Public Prosecutor v Mansoor s/o Abdullah and Others [1998] SGHC 210)
  • 8. (14 October 2003): Murder Of The Italian Lady (Public Prosecutor v Maksa bin Tohaiee [1992])
  • 9. (21 October 2003): Found Insane (Public Prosecutor v Neo Man Lee [1989])
  • 10. (28 October 2003): Child Raped
  • 11. (4 November 2003): Jealousy Knows No Limit (Public Prosecutor v Vasavan Sathiadew [1989] SGHC 87)
  • 12. (11 November 2003): Male-Woman (Public Prosecutor v Chin Seow Noi and Others [1992])
  • 13. (18 November 2003): The Story Of Koh Swee Beng (Public Prosecutor v Koh Swee Beng [1990] SGHC 30)

Season 3 (Mondays, 10.00 p.m.)

  • 1. (25 October 2004): The Pulau Senang Trial
  • 2. (1 November 2004): Rich Man, Poor Man (Public Prosecutor v Tan Freddy [1968])
  • 3. (8 November 2004): The Fiancée’s Father (Public Prosecutor v N Govindasamy [1975])
  • 4. (15 November 2004): The Trial of Father Joachim Kang (Chan Emily v Kang Hock Chai Joachim [2005] SGHC 37)
  • 5. (22 November 2004): Killed By His Mother's Lover
  • 6. (29 November 2004): Death On Pulau Ubin (Public Prosecutor v Harun bin Ripin and Another [1974], Mohamed Yasin bin Hussin v Public Prosecutor [1976] SGPC 2)
  • 7. (6 December 2004): The Tooth Fragment (Public Prosecutor v Nadasan Chandra Secharan [1996] SGHC 228, Nadasan Chandra Secharan v Public Prosecutor [1997] SGCA 3)
  • 8. (13 December 2004): The Moving Mini Murder
  • 9. (20 December 2004): Girl Thrown To Her Death
  • 10. (27 December 2004): Rage (Public Prosecutor v Chua Hwa Soon Jimmy [1998] SGHC 16)
  • 11. (3 January 2005): Fatal Step (Public Prosecutor v Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah [1996-1997])
  • 12. (10 January 2005): The Unsolved

Season 4 (Sundays 10.00 p.m.)

  • 1. (2 April 2006): The Bukit Merah Maid Trial (Public Prosecutor v Sundarti Supriyanto [2004] SGHC 212)
  • 2. (9 April 2006): Serial Rapist (Public Prosecutor v Suresh Nair CC 39/2003)
  • 3. (16 April 2006): Itch To Kill (Public Prosecutor v Ong Teng Siew CC 22/1996)
  • 4. (23 April 2006): Baby Killer (Public Prosecutor v Soosainathan s/o Dass Saminathan [2003] SGHC 153)
  • 5. (30 April 2006): Bungled Burglary
  • 6. (7 May 2006): Headless Corpse
  • 7. (14 May 2006): Murder of the Caretaker (Public Prosecutor v Zailani bin Ahmad [2004] SGHC 202)
  • 8. (21 May 2006): Deaf Mute Dead (Public Prosecutor v Tan Chun Seng [2003], Tan Chun Seng v Public Prosecutor [2003] SGCA 26)
  • 9. (28 May 2006): The Transvestite (Public Prosecutor v Soosay [1993] SGHC 50)
  • 10. (4 June 2006): Death in the Bath
  • 11. (11 June 2006): Fall Of Death (Public Prosecutor v Lee Harith Gary (alias Lee Cheng Thiam) [2004] SGHC 79)
  • 12. (18 June 2006): Car Boot Murder (Public Prosecutor v Lim Poh Lye and Another [2005] SGHC 13)
  • 13. (25 June 2006): Mistaken (Public Prosecutor v Fazely bin Rahmat and Another [2002] SGHC 141)

Season 5 (Sundays, 10.00 p.m. (Monday for fifth episode))

  • 1. (7 January 2007): The Peeping Tom Trial
  • 2. (14 January 2007): Murder by Car (Public Prosecutor v Tan Cheng Eng William [1969])
  • 3. (21 January 2007): Gun Siege (Public Prosecutor v Teo Cheng Leong [1970])
  • 4. (28 January 2007): Death At 13 (Public Prosecutor v Lim Seng Chuan [1975])
  • 5. (5 February 2007): Strangled by Sari (Public Prosecutor v Saminathan s/o Subramaniam [2002] SGHC 259)
  • 6. (11 February 2007): The Orchard Towers Double Murder (Public Prosecutor v McCrea Michael [2006] SGHC 119)
  • 7. (25 February 2007): Thai Pimp Killed (Public Prosecutor v Singngoi Somsak [2006])
  • 8. (4 March 2007): The Shenton Way Shootout (Public Prosecutor v Khor Kok Soon [2005] SGHC 125)
  • 9. (11 March 2007): Morbid Jealousy (Public Prosecutor v G Krishnasamy Naidu [2006] SGHC 64)
  • 10. (18 March 2007): The Maid (Public Prosecutor v Purwanti Parji [2004] SGHC 224)

Trivia

  • The legal consultant for Seasons 1 and 2 is Senior Counsel R Palakrishnan. After Palakrishnan passed away in July 2003, the same year as Season 2's first telecast, Subhas Anandan becomes the new legal consultant for this docu-drama from Season 3 onwards, which first aired in the following year (2004).
  • The closing credits for Seasons 1 and 2 flipped from page to page on a black screen, accompanied by random music. In Season 3, the closing credits scrolled from bottom-to-top in a red background similar to a scene in the opening sequence, featuring the allegory of justice found at the entrance of the old Supreme Court building in Singapore; as well as accompaniment by only the opening theme music. This background and music continued to be used for closing credits in Seasons 4 and 5, except that the credits flipped from page to page as per Seasons 1 and 2.
  • The front gate of Changi Prison, despite appearing in the opening sequence throughout the first season (and the opening sequence would remain unchanged throughout the entire telecast), only appeared as a background in one of the last episodes for that season, The Burnt Body Case, when the date of execution for that accused was revealed near to the end of the episode. This background would continue to be used at the end of most episodes in Seasons 2 and 3, either revealing the date of execution or the verdict for the accused, or any important information or records (such as in The Story Of Koh Swee Beng, it mentioned about the number of prisoners on Death Row being pardoned by the President of Singapore over a period of time). It was last used in Fatal Step, the second last episode of Season 3 and the last episode in that season to feature a High Court case (due to the following and last episode, The Unsolved, being a special, did not feature any High Court case as the murderers were never found).
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