Uchino Seiyo to star in new TV Asahi drama SP "Heyachou"

Uchino Seiyo will be starring in the new TV Asahi drama SP "Heyachou" which will be shown at 9pm on 17 December. This drama was the result of Uchino's self-initiated project which took 7 years to materialise so each and every scene was handled with great care as a reflection of the effort dedicated to producing this drama.

The story was written by Yamamoto Mutsumi based on the input of a former Metropolitan Police Department's 1st section detective who had since retired and the novels "Jidori" and "Kenkyohyou" by the late Iida Hirohisa. As Uchino had acted in a drama where Iida had been the police consultant, they developed a great bond which led to the plan of producing a drama together. However, due to Iida's sudden demise in 2010, the plan was shelved temporarily as it was felt that Uchino was not at the right age to play the lead character.

In this story, Uchino plays Kamamoto Nobuhiko who is a well-respected police detective and performs well in his job despite using rather old-fashioned methods. However, when he gets too involved in his investigation work, he fails to lend a listening ear to his colleague-cum-buddy and the latter subsequently commits suicide. Meanwhile, he neglects his family where his wife has enough of him after taking care of his bedridden father for many years. Kamamoto then realises that he has probably lost the heart which makes him human due to his devotion to catching criminals and faces the first challenge in his life. Just then, he meets a newbie female police officer Tsujimoto Miki who is the daughter of Kamamoto's senior and sees that she has her own set of troubles too. While trying to face up to his issues, he has to juggle his work and gradually changes to become a better person.

Uchino said that Iida's works offer a very different insight into the world of police detectives which is hardly known by the public. As such, his character doesn't appear like Superman but an ordinary person who has his fair share of pain, struggles and weaknesses which he hoped to have conveyed through his acting. Since this is not a pure police detective story, it is bound to resonate with any working adult who can identify with Kamamoto's struggles.

Co-stars include Takeda Rina who plays Miki, Hirata Mitsuru who plays Numajiri, the chief of section 15 and Kamamoto's boss and Fukikoshi Mitsuru who plays Yoshizawa, the rival of Kamamoto and the chief of Higashi Nakano Police Station. Last but not least, Okunuki Kaoru will play Yukie, the wife of Kamamoto and Ishibashi Renji will play Kamamoto's father Kazuhiko.

Source: Oricon