Warrior Queen (2003)
"Boudica" (original title)

Boudica, the Warrior Queen on Britain, leads her tribe into rebellion against the Roman Empire and the mad Emperor of Rome Nero.

Director:

Bill Anderson

Writer:

Andrew Davies

Stars:

Alex Kingston, Steven Waddington, Emily Blunt

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alex Kingston	...	Boudica
Steven Waddington	...	King Prasutagus
Emily Blunt	...	Isolda
Leanne Rowe	...	Siora
Ben Faulks	...	Connach
Hugo Speer	...	Dervalloc
Gary Lewis	...	Magior the Shaman
Alex Hassell	...	Roman Officer
James Clyde	...	Roman Sergeant
Angus Wright	...	Severus
Steve John Shepherd	...	Catus
Jack Shepherd	...	Claudius
Gideon Turner	...	Didius
Frances Barber	...	Agrippina
Andrew Lee Potts	...	Nero

Storyline

It's the first century, and Rome rules the world. After her husband's death, it's left to Boudica -fierce Iceni warrior, wife of a king, and proud mother of two daughters- to unite the fractious tribes of Briton and stand against the oppressive Roman Empire.

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Plot Keywords:

roman | roman empire | iceni | guerilla warfare | poisoning | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official PBS/Masterpiece Theatre website

Country:

UK Romania

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Warrior Queen

Filming Locations:

UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Box TV, Media Pro Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Years later, Alex Kingston (Boudica) and Frances Barber (Agrippina the Young) both went on to star in the revival of the BBC science fiction series "Doctor Who". Kingston played recurring character River Song in Series 4, 5, 6 and 7 and Frances Barber played Madame Kovarian in Series 6.

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Goofs

According to the movie king Prasutagus of the Icenii died at about the same time as the Roman emperor Claudius. However, the latter died in 54 CE, while the former died in 61 CE.

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Connections

Featured in The Story of the Costume Drama: A Call to Arms (2008)

User Reviews

A good idea, messed up by ITV

If this is going to have a theatrical release in the US this is going to bomb big time. A very dissapointing film, with the occasional good momment, but the worst thing is the typical trates of ITV dramas that have crept in. The tendancy for everyone behind the scenes to try and stand out from the crowd by throwing in their own little bits. As a result what could have been a good film was pretty much destroyed.

The beginning and ending was just downright patronising and the scenes in Rome (which seemed there entirely to emphasise that Nero was as nutty as a fruit cake) were pretty redundant. There were however a few good battle scenes and some good acting. On the whole though it was just bad camera work, bad directing, poor script, feeble attempts to shock the audience and very little genuine authenticity.

I rated this at a 4/10 but had it not been for the unprofessional start and end it could have scrapped a 6/10 because there was enough reasonable content here to make this film enjoyable at least for a one off viewing.

If you see this film on TV and like ancient history and legends it's worth a watch, but whatever you do don't pay to see this in a movie theatre because this is a long way off being anything other then a TV movie.