POOR Zoe Tay. She disrobed in front of her co-star Chen Hanwei- and promptly got him laughing.

Not because of her figure.

But because she had stuck masking tape all over her body to cover herself for the shoot of By My Side, a new television drama they both are starring in.

Zoe, 40, said she had spent more effort on "precautionary measures" because she was uncomfortable undressing in front of her close friend of 20 years, even though she was wearing a very thin bodysuit.

The drama was the first time they've been paired together as husband and wife.

"I'd have no problem doing the scene with any other actor. Anyone but Hanwei," the Caldecott queen told The New Paper.

Explaining his guffaws, Hanwei, 39, said: "She really looked very funny... it was really ugly.

"Like one whole crinkled mess of tape plastered together."

To which Zoe responded in mock protest: "But no one can see what."

But it wasn't like she expected Hanwei to turn lusty and get any funny ideas.

Said Zoe: "It's because we're such close friends that I actually felt so uncomfortable about doing intimate scenes with him."

The actress said: "When I first read the script, I told my husband, die, this time die, I have to kiss Hanwei!"

In By My Side, which starts on 28 Oct, Zoe and Hanwei play couple Lin Xinya and Chen Bufan.

Married with a young daughter, the couple's blissful family life is ripped apart when Bufan discovers he has Aids.

As they struggle to accept the harsh reality, their marriage nearly crumbles.

Bufan finally gets a job at a factory and avoids going home, preferring to spend the nights at his workplace.

"In a desperate bid to save her marriage, Xinya decides to have sex with Bufan to convince him of her love," said Zoe.

Hence, the scene.

It also didn't help that she was feeling unwell on the day of the filming.

Zoe had been running a fever and suffering from a severe sore throat.

"My voice had gone so raspy."

Thankfully, everything turned out fine and they managedto finish the takes in under anhour.

Strange intimacy

Said Zoe: "It just felt so funny to do intimate stuff with someone you know so well."

There were also some scenes where they had to kiss each other, though thankfully, she added: "It was nothing of the hot and heavy sort."

Intimacy aside, Zoe admitted that their friendship added chemistry that worked perfectly for them in other scenes.

Such as an emotional one where Xinya slaps Bufan hard on the cheeks.

Hanwei said: "I told her not to hold back and to give it all she's got. Only then would the slaps look real."

Which Zoe did. And it took just three takes.

She said: "It takes a shared closeness to be able to get the slaps across accurately, without making it more painful.

"It's like he must know when to turn his face towardsmeso that the slaps land just nicely."

Zoe said the opportunity to work with Hanwei so closely also notched up the level of respect she had for him.

"Because he is such a perfectionist, Hanwei became very focused in his role," she said.

"In doing that, we were more drawn towards the tragedy that Bufan faced and it affected the rest of us."

Zoe predicted that this would be another award-winning role for Hanwei.

Hanwei won Best Actor for his role as a recovering coma patient in A Life Of Hope at Star Awards 2005.

She said : "I've worked with so many male leads and I can tell you, Hanwei truly outdid himself in this drama."

A modest Hanwei said: "I felt we had an important role to play - this being a docu-drama sort.

"We had a message to send out and because most people's knowledge of Aids can be so abstract.

"There are too many misconceptions and I felt that we should take it seriously to educate the others."

At home, she's the tough one

AS with her professional roles, the happily-married mother of two boys slips into her personal role with the same ease.

Andshe's the disciplinarian at home,Zoe disclosed.

But we're not talking about punitive measures. Rather, it is about simple rules she has - such as watching television.

When asked if elder son Brayden, 3, has watched any of her dramas, she said: "No." And that is because he is "allowed only 20 minutes a day to watch TV" though she does not impose any restriction onthe kind of shows he watches.

Zoe said: "Brayden prefers watching cartoons."

Another reason for the rule is because their television is in another room - not the living room - and so, someone would have to be with the boy to keep an eye on him.

She added: "But he's quite okay about it. He actually prefers to play with his brother... or rather, showing off stuff that he can do."

Younger son Ashton is 1.

Zoe said: "Brayden likes to call out to him and go, look at kor kor (big brother) do this or that."

Zoe is grateful to her mum for taking care of the boys and said: "Thankfully, I can entrust them to my mum and I also have a good maid."

And as such, Zoe finds that she is able to work without worrying about the family.

"I'm also very disciplined in the sense that once I work, my mind is focused strictly on my job," she said.

"Unless there's some special reason - like if one of them is unwell - I will switch off mentally and not think about the family."

But it's not all work and no play. Zoe confessed: "When I don't have to work, I like to take my mother out with the kids."

"I'll just work and work when I have to, but now, I'm cruising until sometime towards the end of this year.

"Then it'll be time to start preparing for the new drama," she said.

Zoe is slated to appear together with Caldecott princess Fann Wong in The Ultimatum. They last faced off onscreen 13 years ago in The Golden Pillow.

She said: "We've both moved on to different stages in our lives and careers, with different experiences.

"I believe it'll be a refreshing move."

This article was first published in The New Paper on Oct 17, 2008.