\n<\/p>\n
Scripting the series, however, proved far from straightforward. It became, in Dynn\u2019s words, \u201ca huge learning curve\u201d and his \u201chardest project by some distance\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c(You have to) write content that has a lot of dramatic tension while also being factual,\u201d he reflected. \u201cYou have to keep hooking \u2026 your audience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For Oh, the challenge lay more in offering viewers enough contextual orientation at the start of each episode without it sounding like the series was repeating itself.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the brevity of each episode, the research demanded a high level of granularity.<\/span><\/p>\n The team of producers worked through multiple layers of material \u2014 from newspaper reports and archival photographs to the accounts of political actors whose actions often unfolded on the periphery of public view.<\/span><\/p>\n The producers also had to make sense of those actions by piecing together the personal motivations and strategic manoeuvres that shaped the period.<\/span><\/p>\n One example is the closed-door meetings at Sri Temasek, tucked away in the Istana grounds, where People\u2019s Action Party leaders held discreet discussions with federal opposition members. Reconstructing what happened \u2014\u00a0and how tensions between Lee and the Tunku escalated into open hostility \u2014\u00a0required rigorous perusal of archived photos and oral recounts.<\/span><\/p>\n