The Burning Bed is a 1984 television drama film starring Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, and Richard Masur.

Hughes set fire to the bed her husband was sleeping in at their Dansville, Michigan home on March 9, 1977 after thirteen years of physical domestic abuse at his hands.

Mickey begins displaying signs of jealousy and anger and physically abuses Francine, often in the presence of his parents.

As the case goes to trial, Francine testifies about the horrifying instances of abuse she suffered from Mickey over the years and what happened the day of the murder: Francine returns home late from school, after giving a classmate a ride home, enraging a drunken Mickey.

As the jury returns from deliberation, Francine is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, and she is embraced by her children.

In his 2016 book co-written with Alan Sepinwall titled TV (The Book), television critic Matt Zoller Seitz named The Burning Bed as the 7th greatest American TV movie of all time, writing, "The film was a landmark in terms of content, depicting domestic violence as an unambiguous horror and a human rights violation".

[3] Paul Le Mat won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Television Film.