Ex-TVB boss Stephen Chan puts legal battle behind him as he stars in play about ‘China’s William Shakespeare’
Chief adviser to Commercial Radio set for stint on stage at Sunbeam Theatre next month, and despite the arduous fight to clear his name says he has no enemies
Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, media boss Stephen Chan Chi-wan has moved on from a tortuous six-year court battle in which he overturned a corruption conviction, to now try his hand at theatre.
Next month Chan and other local celebrities will take part in a production combining two plays by Chinese writer Cao Yu, titled Thunderstorm vs Sunrise, at Sunbeam Theatre in North Point. The production focuses on Cao’s early life as well as a story about a high-class party girl supported by her banker lover.
Chan, 58, is currently chief adviser to Commercial Radio. He shot to fame in 2006 when he began hosting TVB talk show Be My Guest, interviewing celebrities and politicians including former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. He was then a general manager of TVB.
In 2009, Chan and his assistant Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun pocketed HK$112,000 and HK$28,000 respectively from a shopping mall without notifying TVB, for an appearance on a programme co-produced by the station at Olympian City in Tai Kok Tsui.
The two were originally acquitted of corruption charges at trial in 2011, but were later convicted when prosecutors appealed against the judge’s decision. In March this year, the duo were finally found not guilty by Hong Kong’s top court. The Court of Final Appeal on Friday also ruled in favour of Chan, ordering the government to pay his legal costs incurred during the six-year battle.