Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6616 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-02-13
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 240 minutes

Synopsis
This BBC dramatisation portrays the life of Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It follows the young teenage princess to successful queen showing how she won the love and support of her subjects and turned England into a major world power. Focussing mainly on the love affair with Robert Dudley, 'The Virgin Queen', also details the important political and historical events during her reign as she balances personal life with the severity of being a monarch.

Customer Reviews

Elizabethan drama, literally
This is a very interesting programme, produced in Britain and originally shown on the BBC and the PBS series, Masterpiece Theatre.

This miniseries was directed by Coky Giedroyc, a veteran of television productions in Britain, including another royal-themed miniseries, 'William and Mary', in 2003. Giedroyc brings an interesting modern twist to the series - rather than filming things in majestic, sweeping camera pans with classical music as a background, and rather than having the dialogue (and acting) be in a stilted, falsely formal style, Giedroyc incorporates modern music with medieval and Celtic flavouring to it (both of which have experienced a renaissance of sorts in the past decade), and the situations are decidedly modern without being out of place in their own times.

This presents the life of Elizabeth from her young adulthood under Queen Mary, as a supposed participant in intrigues against the Catholic Queen, through to her death after serving decades on the throne of England as the Virgin Queen, the queen who never married. In fact, the miniseries plays a tantalising game with Elizabeth's virginity, showing her desires (as well as those around her) without ever giving up the game of 'was she or wasn't she?' Anne-Marie Duff plays the part of Elizabeth, and does a remarkably able job for such a complex figure. Duff won the Irish Television award and was nominated for the BAFTA award for best actress in a television drama in another series, 'Shameless', last year.

Duff is joined by Tom Hardy, who plays the role of Robert Dudley, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth. Dudley is also an extraordinarily complex role, as he played several sides in the political struggles during Elizabeth's early reign, and was part of a family well experienced in regal intrigue - Robert Dudley's family had tried to manage the reign of Elizabeth's brother Edward, engineer the accession of Lady Jane Grey (placing Guildford Dudley on the throne with her), and is sometimes referred to as 'the uncrowned kings of England'. In fact, perhaps the most stunning single scene in this miniseries is after Elizabeth has elevated Robert Dudley to the earldom of Leicester, and during her illness, he sits upon the throne as the protector of the realm. Hardy is well suited to this role, and plays it with skill.

The sets are appropriate to their time period, neither too ornate nor too medieval; the costumes also have a touch of modernity to them, but are still primarily of the period. The situations presented give good insight into the overall pattern of Elizabeth's reign and some of the principal concerns during that time period, although to compress such a long reign into such a short time frame as a four-hour miniseries by necessity means that the history has had to be selectively chosen. Elizabeth faced problems from without and within, many of which were far more complex and pressing than her marriage issue. In the end, Elizabeth made the right decision for the time, if not for the future.

This is a great production for television, and holds up well against other major productions featuring the Virgin Queen Elizabeth of a few years ago.

Excellent
When I'd finished watching this mini-series on DVD I found myself wanting to go back to previous productions about the life of Elizabeth in order to see just how good Anne-Marie Duff is in this by comparing her performance to that of others, just to make sure I've got it right.

I think I have. Make no mistake, she is very good indeed in this.

Dare I say she does even slightly better than Cate Blanchett who gave an impressive performance as Elizabeth in the eponymous film? Of Dame Judi Dench more later. (Glenda Jackson's interpretation is more of a hazy memory for me. I haven't seen the series for decades and I know there has been a film with Helen Mirren but I haven't seen that yet so I admit there are two on my list to catch up on.)

Queen Elizabeth I was, as the modern phrase has it, "highly strung" and the screech of anger or laughter is never far from the surface in Anne-Marie Duff's interpretation. Elizabeth's wilfulness and indecisiveness are also portrayed with great accomplishment.

For me, one moment in the film(s) stands out against many. Elizabeth's speech at Tilbury (this speech was never made at the time but composed retrospectively for her in Stuart times but it is so typically what she would have said that it is embodies Elizabeth) is delivered with tremendous emotion and power. (Olivier and Henry V?) The kind of majestic command AND presence here reminds you of Dame Judi Dench's performance as Elizabeth and Judi Dench won that deserved Oscar for her eight minutes in `Shakespeare in Love'. Anne-Marie Duff's interpretation is of that standard.

Clearly, a great deal of care (and expense) went into the design of this production and the four parts work very well because of it. The interiors are sumptuous so the big picture looks marvellous as does the "small picture" which shows, for example exquisite details such as the authentic-looking antique spectacles worn by Walsingham's code breaker.

The music from "Medieval Babes" (great name) adds a lot and makes itself noticed for all the right reasons. It promoted a "the music's good" comment from my friend (not known for hyperbole). I hope they sell lots of CDs on the strength of the series.

What about the other players? No one is less than good and some are outstanding indeed - Tom Hardy plays the Earl of Leicester with great panache but this series revolves around its leader just as the world did in Elizabeth's own lifetime.

You might enjoy the series even more if you know something of Tudor history because I can imagine the parade of faces and names might prove tricky but you can enjoy it very well without.

I don't think I've given 5 stars before (I'll have to check up) but here goes.

The guns for Gloriana ?
In the wake of Helen Mirren's Elizabeth I, I was intrigued to see what Anne-Marie Duff would make of the role. For me, the first two episodes were outstanding, the remaining two less so. Duff portrayed the young princess Elizabeth as being on the brink of a breakdown because of the constant fear of execution. This tension was superbly done, and Elizabeth's terror was palpable. Joanne Whalley portrayed Mary Tudor as a woman who was fanatical in all her beliefs, to the detriment of others, and the actress played her perfectly. In fact, Whalley resembled one portrait of Mary Tudor - the eyes are exactly the same.

In an age when religious tolerance was zero, Elizabeth was unusually tolerant for her times and preferred "not to look into men's souls" when it came to religious belief. This view was not shared by her sister Mary.

My one gripe with this series was the casting of Tom Hardy. He reminded me of a rather priggish public schoolboy, and didn't have the bravado to portray Leicester accurately. There wasn't enough swagger about him. The only time when his darker side came through was when he sat on Elizabeth's throne, thinking "I've made it". Not so.

Two actors we don't see enough of are Michael Feast and Robert Pugh (Pole and Gardiner), which is a shame. Otherwise, an excellent series and a role to relish for Anne-Marie Duff.