During the decade when TVB had a huge star-studded cast, television had become an integral part of people's lives. At this time, TVB dramas were no longer concentrated in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the Cantonese-speaking areas where they were broadcast. Mainland audiences were treated to the first Hong Kong TV series, Huo Yuanjia, in 1983, although it was not from TVB, but from the then-prominent TV Asia. The first TVB drama to reach mainland audiences was The Legend of the Condor Heroes in 1984, starring Wong Yat-wa and Weng Mei-ling. As Chia-TV's Michelle Wong and ATV's Huo Yuanjia dominated the Hong Kong martial arts drama market, TVB deployed most of its production elite, employing more than half of its best actors at the time to remake The Legend of the Condor Heroes. At the time of Chia-TV's collapse in 1978, TVB acquired the rights to adapt almost all of Jin Yong's works (The Legend of the Condor Heroes is based on Jin Yong's novel of the same name, not a word-for-word rendition of the original novel). As a result, 80% of the more than 200 Hong Kong TV dramas that where shown to mainland audiences in the 1980s were mainly costume drama's. TVB martial arts dramas such as The Eight Parts of Heaven and Dragon, The Divine Eagle, The Flying Fox on Snowy Mountain, The Chivalrous Guest, The Record of the Dragon, and The Legend of the Deer and the Cauldron took the country by storm and became the best form of popular entertainment in the 1980s, when TV drama productions in the mainland were weak. Another TVB drama that sparked a ratings boom in the Mainland in the 1980s for millions of people was Shanghai Tang starring Chow Yun Fat and Chiu Ah Chi.
At that time, TVB had already formed a rivalry between the "Five Tigers" and the young generation of Cheng Siu-chiu, Wan Chi-leung and Chow Yun-fat. In the 1983 variety show "All star challenge", Miao Qiao Wei, Tong Chun Yip, Wong Yat Wah, Andy Lau and Tony Leung performed "acrobatics" together, and Sir Run Run Shaw, one of the founders of TVB, personally inscribed the Five Tiger. "In 1983, the star-studded competition show Five Tigers was born, with Weng MeiLing appearing in front of the camera for one or two seconds.
Weng MeiLing and the TVB Four Tigers formed a film bond. After Weng MeiLing's death, the TVB Five Tigers disbanded in the late 1980s.
在TVB明星阵容庞大的10年里，电视已然成为百姓生活中不可或缺的一部分。此时的TVB电视剧不再集中于香港、广州这些粤语地区播放。内地观众在1983年迎来了首部香港电视剧《霍元甲》，不过这部电视剧并非出自TVB的手笔，而是当时风头正劲的亚洲电视台。第一部进入内地观众视线的TVB电视剧是1984年播出的《射雕英雄传》，由黄日华与翁美玲主演，因佳视米雪黄蓉和亚视霍元甲占据香港武侠剧市场，无线出动了大部分制作精英，启用了当时一半以上演技最优秀的艺员重拍射雕。在1978年佳视倒闭之时，TVB收购了几乎所有金庸作品的改编权(本故事根据金庸同名小说改编，不是按照原著小说一字一句的照搬演绎)。因此，内地观众在上世纪80年代看到的200多部香港电视剧中80%以古装为主，《天龙八部》、《神雕侠侣》、《雪山飞狐》、《侠客行》、《倚天屠龙记》、《鹿鼎记》等TVB武侠剧风靡全国，成为在内地电视剧制作薄弱的1980年代最佳的大众娱乐方式。另一部1980年代在内地引发万人空巷收视热潮的TVB电视剧是周润发、赵雅芝主演的《上海滩》。
当时的TVB已经形成了郑少秋、万梓良、周润发与“五虎将”两代小生班底之间的对垒。在1983年的综艺节目《星光熠熠劲争辉》上，苗侨伟、汤镇业、黄日华、刘德华、梁朝伟合演“杂技”，由无线电视创始人之一邵逸夫爵士亲自题名五虎，TVB首次挂出了“五虎将”的旗帜。1983年星光熠熠競爭輝节目五虎诞生，阿翁在镜头前1、2秒时间出现。
阿翁和无线四虎结下片缘，阿翁逝世后，无线五虎在80年代末解散
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