They are fast becoming local TV's most common on-screen pairing.

In the seven dramas that Shanghainese actress and MediaCorp artiste Zhou Ying has acted in, four are opposite actor Dai Yangtian - Table Of Glory (2009), Together (2009), Breakout (2010) and now The Quarters.

And it so happens their characters are always infatuated with each other. In The Quarters, Zhou, 27, plays samsui woman Qiumei, who loves Dai's character so much she becomes a bar hostess to pay his debts.

In real life - for example, at Thursday's press conference for the drama - the two even behaved like a couple, with Zhou smacking Dai lightly on his arm whenever he teased his other colleagues.

But it's impossible for them to hook up, she stressed, as they don't even keep in contact outside of work.

"We have great chemistry on screen... and we know each other so well that we are like siblings and we don't make an effort to chat anymore," Zhou told The New Paper.

Both were also housemates for three months in 2009, when Zhou first came to Singapore to pursue an acting career.

But they never saw each other, she said, because their rooms had private entrances. She said she would feel very uncomfortable if things ever turned romantic between her and Dai because she doesn't want a celebrity boyfriend.

"I like to be curious about my boyfriend and his job. But if my partner is an actor too, there'll be no mystery and no sparks," she said.

Zhou revealed she broke up with her Chinese boyfriend of five years about six month ago. They met when she was a university student in China. He was her first boyfriend.

Zhou said she has more or less recovered from it and she focuses on work to divert her attention from any painful memories.

She added: "I still hope to find a man who will be good to me... "But it's hard to meet new people so I'll leave it to fate. I believe when the time is right, the right man will appear."

Get The New Paper for more stories.