Have we seen the last of Barbarella?

With local actress-turned-director Michelle Chong embarking on her second movie - 3 Peas In A Pod - and not being part of the coming season of Channel 5's parody news sketch show The Noose, does this mean farewell to television's most famous Sarong Party Girl?

Chong, 35, made a name for herself and The Noose by playing a series of popular characters such as air-headed newscaster Adrianna Wow, Sarong Party Girl Barbarella, Filipino domestic helper Leticia Bongnino and Chinese KTV hostess Lulu.

However, these characters will not appear in the sixth season of The Noose, which begins on April 2, at 8.30pm, on Channel 5.

When The New Paper met Chong at a press conference on Monday to mark the start of filming for 3 Peas In A Pod, and asked if she would return to television, she jokingly said: "No, I hope not!"

She said she would not be part of The Noose's new season, or any other television show, in the short term.

"I won't be doing television for a while," she said.

According to previous reports, Chong's MediaCorp contract ended last January and was not renewed.

Ms Kim Wong-Nathan, Channel 5's vice-president of Network Programming and Promotions, confirmed that Chong's characters on the show will not appear in the new season.

"We will not be getting anyone else to play Michelle's characters like Leticia, Lulu or Barbarella and as such, these characters will not be featured in the upcoming season," said Ms Wong-Nathan.

Channel 5 will focus on developing new characters to complement the cast.

"But we would definitely want to work with Michelle again if her schedule permits," she added.

Chong's move away from television is part of her plan never to be in front of the camera again.

She made a successful transition to the big screen in 2011, as her directorial debut, Already Famous, took in $1.4 million locally, and was Singapore's official entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar this season.

She played the lead role in Already Famous, but in line with her desire to fade out of the limelight, she will have only a cameo appearance in 3 Peas In A Pod.

"It's a very funny role and a non-speaking one too," said Chong.

Ultimately, she hopes to be the unseen force behind her works.

"The ideal situation for me would be that I don't even have to put on make-up, appear on stage or do interviews," she said.

"Doing creative work is a lonely thing, but it's also very enjoyable. For my movies, I hope the focus will be on the actors."

Focus

The focus this time will be on her three leads, namely former Korean boyband U-KISS member Alexander Lee Eusebio, 24, Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit member Calvin Chen, 32, and local fresh face Jae Liew, 22, who was chosen from more than 800 hopefuls at an audition held in January.

They play university students who embark on a life-changing road trip before graduating and returning to their respective countries.

The movie began filming in Australia Mar 6 and is scheduled for theatrical release in late November this year. Chong wrote the script.

But the movie industry's gain seems to be the television industry's loss, at least according to viewers TNP spoke to, who lamented Chong's absence from The Noose.

"Michelle Chong is one of the highlights of the show, so it's a loss (not having her on the show)," said 27-year-old cabin crew Mohamed Nasri Mohamed Naguib.

Maxie Aw Yeong, 24, a civil servant, said the new characters in the new season of The Noose "probably won't be as iconic as Lulu, Leticia or Barbarella".

Said 45-year-old housewife Sally Chin: "Barbarella was really iconic and everyone knows her.

"I don't think anyone can play Barbarella as well as Michelle Chong can."

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