“Thai su Tran Thu Do”, a historical film which was produced to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long- Hanoi in 2010 but wasn’t finished on time and thus hasn’t been broadcast, has recently been given to Vietnam Television for free in a desperate attempt to get it aired.

Ngo Phuong Lan, head of the National Cinema Department, recently petitioned the Hanoi People’s Committee to air the historical drama, which depicts Tran Thu Do (1194-1264), a scheming principal advisor who is credited with founding the Tran dynasty but also attracts controversy for overthrowing and murdering the last king of the Ly dynasty.

“The drama won the top prize for itself and also brought its director and scriptwriter another two top prizes at the 2012 Golden Kite awards. However, the series hasn’t been aired so far, which dismays its crew and cast and is a huge waste of money,” Lan explained.

According to Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy head of Hanoi People’s Committee, as the film was invested with over VND56 billion (US$2.66 million) from the city’s budget, the city has tried every way possible to bring the drama to TV viewers.

The city even considered gifting the 30-episode series to all cities and provinces nationwide to broadcast it on their channels, but eventually dropped the plan.

However, the representative of Vietnam Television (VTV), which boasts the country’s nationwide coverage and highest number of viewers, said it will be very unlikely that they can air the series on Oct 10 this year, which marks the 1003th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, as their schedule is packed with other locally-made dramas.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Kim Trung, deputy head of VTC, which offers digital television services, showed great interest in the historical drama but said he hasn’t been contacted regarding the gifting of the series.

“VTC produces and orders some 700 Vietnamese episodes each year. Maybe Hanoi prefers to have the drama aired on analog television to digital one. As critically acclaimed historical dramas are always our priority, if we are gifted the series “Thai su Tran Thu Do”, we will certainly air it in next to no time,” Trung said.

The grand ceremony to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of King Ly Thai To’s decision to move the country’s then capital in Hoa Lu to Thang Long, which is now Hanoi, ran from Oct 1 to 10 in 2010. Many works were built and scores of traditional, cultural events were held in 2009 and 2010 to mark the occasion.