The powerful new historical drama Black Tide Island premiered in Taipei on Thursday to an emotional and enthusiastic reception. The nine-part series, which begins regular broadcast at the end of March, is based on true stories from Taiwan’s turbulent past and is already being hailed as a milestone in local television production.
Set during the early years of Kuomintang (KMT) rule, the series delves into Taiwan’s White Terror era (1947–1987), a time marked by intense political suppression and fear. The narrative follows five young medics and intellectuals who, swept up in the ideological conflict of the Korean War period (1950–1953), are imprisoned on the remote and windswept Green Island.
The series begins with a dramatic sea crossing over the perilous Taiwan Strait, guided by the powerful Kuroshio Current — the “Black Tide” referenced in the show’s title. As the story unfolds, the characters confront the harsh realities of prison life, the challenge of performing medical procedures under primitive conditions, and the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood forged through adversity.
Producer Roger Cheng, speaking en route to a screening in Tainan, described the production process as one of the most demanding he’s experienced. “There were a lot of challenges. We had to recreate the prison environment in Tainan to resemble the one on Green Island,” he said. “There was underwater filming, fires, typhoons — everything you could imagine.”
Adding further complexity, the series features dialogue in Hakka, Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Japanese. “This required months of training for the actors,” Cheng noted. “We even brought in medical consultants to ensure the surgical procedures depicted were historically accurate to the 1950s.”
While Black Tide Island does not shy away from the harshness of Taiwan’s authoritarian past, Cheng emphasized that the core message is one of resilience. “It was a dark period of history in Taiwan,” he acknowledged, “but we wanted to highlight how people survived — and how medicine played a vital role. These are universal themes.”
Directed by Golden Bell Award winner Jim Wang, the series boasts cinematic visuals, an expansive set design, and a compelling score, giving it a major film production feel. The premiere featured English subtitles, underscoring the production’s ambition to reach an international audience.
The drama features a talented cast, including Wang Shih-hsien, River Huang, Tsao Yu-ning, Wu Nien-hsuan, and Hsia Teng-hung.
Black Tide Island received substantial backing from the Hakka Affairs Council and was jointly produced by Hakka TV and Go Inside. The series will air every Sunday at 9 p.m. starting March 30 on Hakka TV, Chunghwa Telecom MOD, and HamiVideo. It will also air every Saturday at 10 p.m. on TTV beginning April 5.
