Episode #1.2 (24 Apr. 2006)

Now well into middle age, there is no longer any concern about Queen Elizabeth producing an heir and the focus now shifts to deciding who will ascend to the throne when she dies. The Queen ... See full summary »

Director:

Tom Hooper

Writer:

Nigel Williams

Stars:

Helen Mirren, Hugh Dancy, Toby Jones

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Helen Mirren	...	Elizabeth I
Hugh Dancy	...	Earl of Essex
Toby Jones	...	Robert Cecil
Patrick Malahide	...	Sir Francis Walsingham
Ewen Bremner	...	King James VI
Ian McDiarmid	...	Lord Burghley
Will Keen	...	Francis Bacon
Eddie Redmayne	...	Southampton
Ben Pullen	...	Sir Walter Raleigh
Charlotte Asprey	...	Frances Walsingham
Toby Salaman	...	Dr Lopez
Malcolm Terris	...	Chaplain
Douglas Reith	...	Judge
Ann Firbank	...	Lady Anne
Anna Steel	...	Lady in Waiting

Storyline

Now well into middle age, there is no longer any concern about Queen Elizabeth producing an heir and the focus now shifts to deciding who will ascend to the throne when she dies. The Queen has taken a keen interest in the young and handsome Earl of Essex and is a bit jealous when it becomes apparent that one of her ladies-in-waiting also has an interest in him. Essex gains a great deal of influence with the Queen, eventually obtaining a seat on he Council. She forgives him when he oversteps the mark and has her personal physician arrested as a traitor. She is livid however when she learns that he has impregnated one of her ladies-in-waiting. When he leads a rebellion, not against the Queen but against her advisers, he goes too far and his head is put on the chopping block. Her advisers meanwhile make plans to have King James VI of Scotland succeed her.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

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Details

Release Date:

24 April 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Company Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 106 min (DVD)

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the young Earl of Leicester has risen against Elizabeth, she states "love does alter when it alteration finds". This is a reference to a line from Shakespeare's sonnet no. 116: "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds". Shakespeare lived during the reign of Elizabeth I, and owed his success in part to her support of the arts in general.

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Goofs

In an era long before plastic false teeth, Elizabeth is recorded as having one tooth left in her head before she reached the age of 20, yet Helen Mirren clearly has a flashing, gleaming smile.

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Quotes

Queen Elizabeth I: What I must not say is that I love you. The more I let you go the more I seem to have need of you. And it will not go away no matter how much I command it. Do you think the Queen is mistress of her feelings? Oh no, she's a fool for love. A hopeless fool.

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