PUBLISHED ONOctober 14, 2025 10:21 AMBYYeo Shu HuiIn local actor Xu Bin's latest time-travelling historical drama Fixing Fate, he had the opportunity to meet some important figures who shaped Singapore.
Speaking to AsiaOne recently while promoting the drama, the 36-year-old, who plays Tan Choon Lim in the series, shared two of his most memorable scenes.
"My character introduces Zubir Said to rock music," he laughed, sharing that because of Choon Lim's interference, the Singaporean composer, who wrote the national anthem, fails his music audition in the series and didn't compose Majulah Singapura as a result.
With the ability to travel back and forth in time, Choon Lim returns to the past once more to let history play out by itself, returning Zubir to his original fate.
"As Choon Lim breathes a sigh of relief and watches Zubir play the violin, I wasn't supposed to get emotional in the scene, but I got teary-eyed because I was so touched. I felt relieved for what Choon Lim did and how it affected Zubir in composing the national anthem. It was a very memorable scene for me," Xu Bin shared.
Fixing Fate tells the story of Choon Lim, who works in his uncle's funeral home and comes across a lighter that a deceased elderly man had.
Using the lighter, Choon Lim is able to travel back and forth between 2025 and 1930, where he is drawn to law student Teo Soon Lim (Carrie Wong). His friend Kayla (Fang Rong), who gives up her dream of being a historian to work in a Thai nightclub to make money for her ailing sister, soon figures out Choon Lim's time-travelling secret and blackmails him into obtaining historical artifacts from 1930 to sell in 2025 for profit.
The lighter is eventually discovered by police inspector Ang (Andie Chen), who suspects Choon Lim and Kayla's criminal intent, and they begin a cat-and-mouse chase against time.
In an upcoming episode this week, Choon Lim also meets seven-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, where they have a short exchange, followed by the former giving the boy a hug.
Xu Bin shared that during filming, he ad-libbed a line which made it into the final cut of the episode.
He said: "I was supposed to just hug the child actor and leave the scene. But I don't know why, as I was hugging him, I said something that was not in the script, 'Thank you, Mr Lee.' Carrie was beside me during filming and after that, she said she had goosebumps and almost cried.
"I also had the same feelings when I was delivering the line. I feel lucky to be able to include it as I feel it not only represents what Choon Lim wants to say, it also represents my appreciation towards Mr Lee for his contributions to Singapore. It may also represent Singaporeans who want to thank him for all he had done for the nation. I think this expressed more than what Choon Lim does as a character. I felt very happy that I was able to add this line."
Part of the filming for this drama took place in Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, and Xu Bin, who spent two-and-a-half months there, shared the challenges he faced.
He said he was in 90 per cent of the scenes and recounted the blistering heat: "There were many scenes where I didn't wear shoes, such as when I first time-travelled in episode one. The ground was really hot, especially the rickshaw, which has a metal floor.
"There was a scene where I had to hop onto the rickshaw before speaking my lines... I felt like I was standing on a hot plate."
In addition to the heat, there were also rainy days when the set was flooded and filming had to be cancelled.
But it was not all bad, as Xu Bin befriended Andie and celebrated his birthday with the production team.
While the two have both been in local showbiz for over a decade, Xu Bin shared they had never worked together or got to know each other better. While working together in this drama, he was surprised by their chemistry.
"As actors, we will always look for a connection [with other actors] on whether we are on the same track and frequency. When I deliver a line, he should be able to 'catch' it and vice versa. Sometimes, the best form of communication is not communicating at all. We just need to practise once to know how each other plans to perform," he said.
He added there was once Andie hitched a ride in his car to travel to another filming location. During the journey, they chatted about movies and acting and found they have many common topics to talk about and could agree on many things.
Xu Bin, who celebrates his birthday on Feb 19, also told us he was supposed to have an off day that day but was called back to film a scene at the last minute.
He recounted: "I was supposed to have a meal with one of the actors but was told I had an additional scene where I had to move flowerpots.... As I was moving them, Carrie came out with a cake and everybody sang the birthday song.
"That was when I realised the purpose of this scene — they were concerned that I would spend my birthday alone."
Fixing Fate is now available on demand for free on Mewatch and airs on Channel 8 on weekdays at 9pm.
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