''Empress Wu'' is a 1984 Hong Kong television serial based on the biography of

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

(Cantonese: Mou Zak-tin), the only woman in Chinese history to assume the title of "

Empress Regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning ...

", starring

Petrina Fung Petrina Fung Bo Bo (born 30 October 1954) is a Malaysian-born Chinese actress in Hong Kong. Fung is known for the 1994 film ''C'est la vie, mon chéri''. Early life On October 30, 1954, Fung was born in Malaysia. Fung's father is Fung Fung, ...

as the title character. The serial was produced by ATV and was first aired in Hong Kong on ATV Home from 6 August to 28 September 1984. It was shown with English

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on SBS from 1987 to 1990. A dubbed English version of the serial was broadcast in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in sixty-five weekly 30-minute episodes from 4 October 1987 to 21 January 1989."Sunday," ''The Times'' (London, England: 3 October 1987), p. 23. "Television and Radio," ''The Times'' (London, England: 21 January 1989), p. 42.

Cast

: ''Note: Some of the characters' names are in Cantonese romanisation.'' *

as Mou Zak-tin *

Tony Liu Tony Liu Tian-jue (born 7 February 1952) is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. He is often credited by his Cantonese stage name Lau Wing. Liu is best known for starring in many Hong Kong martial arts films, especially in the 1970s and 1980s ...

/ Savio Tsang as Ming Sung-yim * Lo Chun-shun as Tong Ko-tsung * Pat Poon as Yu-man Chun * Lau Hung-fong as Sheung-koon Yuen-yee *

Ban Ban Betty Lai Siu-man (born 23 June 1953), also known by her stage name Ban Ban and previously as Bun Bun, is a retired Hong Kong actress and singer. Background Lai was born in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong in 23 June 1953. she is of Meixian Distric ...

as Empress Wong * Chan Choi-yin as Consort Siu * Kong Hon as Tong Toi-tsung *

Pamela Peck Pamela Peck Wan-kam (, born on September 1, 1944) was a Hong Kong radio agony aunt and celebrity and is a former member of Wan Chai District Council. Since 1989 she has been the partner of 'celebrity' lawyer and legislator Paul Tse. Early lif ...

as Empress Cheung-suen *

Eric Wan Eric Wan Tin-chiu (born 28 October 1964) is a Hong Kong television actor best known for his role as "Fong Tin-yau" in the '' My Date with a Vampire'' television series trilogy produced by the Hong Kong television network ATV. Wan began his actin ...

as Lei Yin * Wong Siu-fung as Ha Fei-yin * Lee Ngoi-wah as Lady of Ngai * Ling Man-hoi as Cheung-suen Mo-gei * Simon Chui as Yuen Tin-gong * Lee Kwok-fai as Lei Toi * Tong Pan-cheung as Ching-sum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empress Wu (1984 TV series) Asia Television original programming 1984 Hong Kong television series debuts 1984 Hong Kong television series endings Television series set in the Tang dynasty Television series set in the Zhou dynasty (690–705) Works about Wu Zetian Cultural depictions of Wu Zetian Cantonese-language television shows Television series set in the 7th century