The Academy

The Academy follows a group of raw recruits through the 27-week regimen at the Hong Kong Police training school, showing how intense instruction and everyday friction shape them. Instead of hinging on flashy cases, the series centers on drills, classrooms and off-duty conversations that reveal character. Trainers push each recruit, exposing flaws and forcing adjustments in attitude and skill. Friendships form, rivalries flare, and the trainees learn professional procedures alongside questions about right and wrong. By the end of the training arc the characters have changed noticeably, with clearer senses of duty and fresh doubts about what policing will demand of their personal lives.

First broadcast by TVB in June 2005, The Academy was created by Wong Wai-Sing. The ensemble includes Sammul Chan, Ron Ng, Michael Miu, Kathy Chow and Michael Tse, and the show helped reassert TVB's focus on modern police drama.

The series didn't win major international awards, but it drew attention at local broadcast events and elevated several cast members, particularly Ron Ng and Sammul Chan, whose profiles rose enough to carry leading roles in subsequent TVB projects.

The Academy spawned two direct sequels: On the First Beat in 2007 and E.U. in 2009, both continuing with Ron Ng and Sammul Chan. Michael Miu returned to the E.U. cast in a new, unrelated role as a triad boss. Those follow-ups kept the original's emphasis on police work and reinforced the show's place in Hong Kong drama programming.

Critical and audience response praised the ensemble chemistry and the realistic training scenes, reflected by a 7.3/10 vote average on a user site. Main themes include mentorship, discipline, moral ambiguity within law enforcement, and how joining the force reshapes relationships and personal priorities, giving the drama a grounded, human focus.