Mediacorp Channel 5 welcomed 2025 with a new longform drama. Premiered on January 6, Provocative tells a story of a former socialite Tess, played by Roz Pho, who was released from prison for attempting to murder her husband. After ten long years, she is released from prison and is on a hunt to find the person who framed her. The Fifth Parlour caught up with the three ladies of Provocative.

Meet Tess, Dr Nadrah, played by Adlina Adil, and Venya played by Eswari Gunasagar. Perfectionist Dr Nadrah is Tess’ best friend and was blamed for giving testimony during Tess’ court proceedings. So when Tess was released was prison, Dr Nadrah perfect life is disrupted. Venya on the other hand is Tess’ neighbour who has been looking out for Tess’ parents when she was away. But is she just a sweet girl or is there more to her?

Besides uncovering the truth behind the attempted murder, audience will get to “explore the good and the bad within. It depicts the battle between the angel and the demon within us. The series illustrates our everyday struggles as an individual, and how our decisions affect us and those around us,” explained Gunasagar on what we can expect from the drama. Adil also added that the drama touches on controversial issues and “explores more current and complex issues of entitlement, women empowerment and deception.”

Being in a longform drama provides opportunities to work with different personalities. The actresses agreed that everyone on set has been amazing with the common goal to give their best. With the same common goal, “we were all able to gel together nicely and those shows in our scenes,” added Gunasagar.

Filming for a longform drama can take a toll on their mental and physical health.

For Adil, she has limited time for herself as she is running two different businesses; Maketh Project (leather crafting workshops) & Dapur SG (home-based business) on top of being an actress. She emphasised on the importance of time management to manage everything as she is passionate about what she is doing.

Pho and Gunasagar on the other hand shared that family time is limited and filming can start very early and ended late. For Pho, she did get to see much of her child for the first month and a half of filming which affected her emotionally. Thankfully, things are getting better now. Despite it, they are thankful for the opportunity to be part of Provocative and hope that audiences will enjoy watching it.

If you are following the drama, do you have any idea who framed Tess? I might know who but I think it is to early to confirm that as I am sure there will some twist and turns that will affect my decision.

Catch Provocative on Mondays to Thursdays at 8.30 pm on Mediacorp Channel 5. You can also watch it on mewatch.

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank Roz Pho, Adlina Adil and Eswari Gunasagar for the interview and Mediacorp for coordinating the interview.