''Plerng Phra Nang'' ( th, เพลิงพระนาง; ; lit: ''Her Majesty's Flame''; English title: The Royal Fire) was a Thai TV drama or ''

lakorn Lakorn is a popular genre of fiction in Thai television. They are known in Thai as (, lit. "television drama") or (''lakhon'', , or ''lakorn''). They are shown generally at prime-time on Thai television channels, starting usually on, before or ...

''. It aired on Thailand's Channel 7 from February 17 to April 15, 2017 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 20:30 for a total of 26 episodes.

Plot summary

The story is a thinly veiled depiction of the life story of

Hsinbyumashin Hsinbyumashin ( my, ဆင်ဖြူမရှင်; 22 November 1821 – 26 February 1900) was a senior queen of King Mindon Min during the Konbaung dynasty. She was the daughter of King Bagyidaw and his consort Nanmadaw Me Nu (Chief Queen of ...

, queen of Burma (now

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

). It is set in the fictional country of Muang Thip. Lady Ananthip has been stripped of her royal title. Her father, the late King Pitula, was deposed in a coup led by King Burapha Kham, who is the elder brother of Crown Princess Sekkaradewi. Out of resentment, she seeks revenge and precipitates the loss of Muang Thip's independence.

Cast

Main characters Supporting characters

Criticism, impact and ratings

Plerng Phra Nang is a remake of a 1996 drama of the same name, also produced by Kantana Group. The script was based on M.R.

Kukrit Pramoj Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj ( th, คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช, , ; 20 April 1911 – 9 October 1995) was a Thai politician, scholar and professor. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand 1973–1974. He was t ...

’s 1969 nonfiction book ''The Fall of the Burmese'' (พม่าเสียกรุง) and Prince

Damrong Rajanubhab Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab ( Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธ� ...

’s ''Journey Through Burma in 1936: A View of the Culture, History and Institutions'' (เที่ยวเมืองพม่า). Comparisons were made between the costumes of the characters in the 2017 version and those worn by

Fan Bingbing Fan Bingbing (, born 16 September 1981) is a Chinese actress. From 2013 to 2017, she was included as the highest-paid celebrity in the ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list after ranking in the top 10 every year since 2006. She appeared on ''Time ...

in ''

The Empress of China ''The Empress of China'' () is a 2014 Chinese television series based on events in 7th and 8th-century Tang dynasty, starring producer Fan Bingbing as the titular character Wu Zetian—the only female emperor (empress regnant) in Chinese histo ...

.'' There were also complaints that some scenes were unrealistic. Soe Win, the great-grandson of

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...

, the last

King of Burma This is a list of the monarchs of Burma (Myanmar), covering the monarchs of all the major kingdoms that existed in the present day Burma (Myanmar). Although Burmese chronicle tradition maintains that various monarchies of Burma (Mon, Burman, A ...

, called the drama "unwatchable" and "distasteful" and asked for the series to be taken off the air. The producer, Chitralada Disayanon, argued that the plot was "“unrelated to Burma and is completely fictional, with the costumes and setting not meant to evoke any country or time period in particular”. However, the massacre of 100 royal family members is a clear reference to events in Burma in 1879. There is also a direct mapping between the members of the Burmese royal family of the time and the characters in the drama: Lady Ananthip is Hsinbyumashin, King Muangkoom is

Mindon Min Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King P ...

, Queen Pinmanee is Queen Supayalat, King Maanfah is

, Upparat Kanaung is

Kanaung Mintha Kanaung Mintha ( my, ကနောင်မင်းသား; 31 January 1820 – 2 August 1866) was crown prince of Burma and son of King Tharrawaddy and younger brother of King Mindon of Burma. Towards the end of the Second Anglo-Burmese War ...

and King Burapha Kham is

Tharrawaddy Min Tharrawaddy Min ( my, သာယာဝတီမင်း, ; 14 March 1787 – 17 November 1846) was the 8th king of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma. He repudiated the Treaty of Yandabo and almost went to war with the British. Tharrawaddy was bor ...

. The rating for the finale was and the average nationwide rating for all episodes was

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

ranked the phrase "Plerng Phra Nang" as the fourth most searched term by Thais in 2017, ranked second place in the category of television programs.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{in lang, th 2017 Thai television series debuts 2017 Thai television series endings Channel 7 (Thailand) original programming Period television series Thai television soap operas