“No Matter What Gender or Who You Are, You Deserve Love”
Thai writer/director Mui Aticha Tanthanawigrai talks about her Award-winning BL series “ThamePo Heart Skips a Beat”
Thai writer/director Mui Aticha Tanthanawigrai carried “ThamePo Heart Skips a Beat” in her pocket for five years before the series finally found a home at GMMTV. The wait was worth it. The series – a gentle, quietly radical take on BL that trades hi-drama tropes for emotional complexity – has 5.2 million YouTube views, landed on Netflix in six languages, and took Gold at the ContentAsia Awards 2025 for Best LGBTQ+ Series. Mui, also known for blockbuster series “F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers”, spoke to us about the long road to the greenlight, shooting concert scenes with 600 extras and a secret code system, and why she believes men don’t have to be portrayed as tough.
BL drama is having a significant moment internationally. Where do you think the genre goes from here, and how are you thinking about that as a creator? “For me, BL series (also GL) is a sub-genre of romantic. It is placed into everybody’s heart because it portrays pure love. No matter what gender/who you are, you deserve good love. If the world says you shouldn’t have, you can yell that they are wrong. This is the magic of the BL/GL series.”
The series has 5.2 million views on YouTube. How do you view that audience – who are they, and what does YouTube give you that a broadcast or streaming window doesn’t? “I think mostly a worldwide audience. Also, somebody who keep re-running it. I heard our audience keep on watching it over and over again for 10 times because it is their comfort zone. I really appreciated it.”
“I hope everybody will find their own happiness. Free from social expectations. They can design their own path in life”.
The series is on Netflix in Tagalog, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese and Spanish. Has anything about that reach surprised you? “It really surprises me that we have fans from every area of this world. I know that BL series and T-pop hit in some countries, but I’ve never thought this series would get this far. It is honor to hear that ThamePo is a part of new wave soft power in both BL and T-pop.”
What do you think it is about “ThamePo Heart Skips a Beat” that landed so well with audiences? “Our passion to do this work. Everybody who is involved in ThamePo put wonderful energy into it”.
Where did the idea come from, and how long did it take to go from that first spark to a greenlight? “About 7 or 8 years ago, my producers and I talked about making a BL. We also discussed the idol industry. So, we merged two ideas together, and this project popped up. I was developing this idea while finding the right cast. But it didn’t turn out right. It’s not only about the cast but also, we need an investor who can bet on this big project with us. I have carried this project in my pocket for five years. I really don’t know how it will happen, if I can’t find any cast or investor. Finally, we handed this project to GMMTV and it is what it is. It was very long journey.”
“I want to see more gentle men in series.”
Thame and Po are both gentle. This seems to be something of a departure from the hi-drama tropes of early BL. Do you think we will see more of these kinds of characters? “I hope so! I want to see more gentle men in series. In my opinion, Man doesn’t have to be portrayed as a tough person as we get used to seeing. Man has complicated emotions because we are human. I wrote Thame and Po’s character based on this idea. I hope everybody will see a complicated feeling in both of them.”
What would you like the audience take- away to be? “I hope everybody will find their own happiness. Free from social expectations. They can design their own path in life”.
When you know a series will air across GMMTV, YouTube and Netflix, does that change anything about how you approach the work... production values, pacing, storytelling choices? “Nothing was changed. I really thank them for giving us freedom. Our team has their own expectations in this series; that is why it was hard to find investors. Our job is to make it to expectation or beyond.”
Were there any scenes that were particularly difficult or costly to pull off? How did you solve the problems these posed? “Concert scenes are really tough. We have a limited budget for production. We can’t pull it off, and I also don’t want to downsize it. So, we fix this problem by asking for cooperation. Actually, this series got a lot of cooperation with ‘GMMTV Concert Event’ and ‘Riser music’. Whatever we can’t do by our own production, we will ask for their support. They hand everything to us. So, we got the stage and every lighting concert from them. After that, our production will run the shooting. We have 600 extras. 500 is a volunteer fan who supports LYKN. My team and I discuss a lot about how to shoot that scene. It is not only about managing 600 people, but we didn’t want anybody to know our scenes’ details on that day. So, we have a secret code to call a scene/ a song. We did a mockup clip for audiences to hide our story. Also, my assistant did 2 breakdowns, one can show to 600, and another for our team. Moreover, the CG team had to stand by on set because we are going to CG 600 to 10,000 people in the stadium.”
Looking back at the finished series, is there anything you would have done differently? “I think if we have more time for pre-production and more money in production, everything will go more smoothly than it did. Anyway, this show is the best version we can have at that time.”
How long did the production take, from pre-production through to the TV premiere? “The writing process was on and off for 5 years before we got greenlight. We prepare things for shooting until first launch almost a year, I guess. Sounds like we have a lot of time. But our work is double compared to others.”
An edited version of this interview appears in the 29 June 2026 edition of ContentAsia.