| Elizabeth I | |
|---|---|
 Title screen with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons | |
| Written by | Nigel Williams |
| Directed by | Tom Hooper |
| Starring | Helen Mirren Jeremy Irons Patrick Malahide Toby Jones Hugh Dancy Barbara Flynn Ewen Bremner Ian McDiarmid |
| Theme music composer | Rob Lane |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Barney Reisz |
| Cinematography | Larry Smith |
| Editors | Beverley Mills Melanie Oliver |
| Running time | 223 minutes |
| Production companies | HBO Films Channel 4 Television Corporation Company Pictures |
| Budget | £5.5 million[1] |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 29 September (2005-09-29) – 6 October 2005 (2005-10-06) |
Elizabeth I is a two-part 2005 British-American historical drama television serial directed byTom Hooper, written byNigel Williams, and starringHelen Mirren asElizabeth I of England. The drama covers approximately the last 24 years of her nearly 45-year reign. Part 1 focuses on the final years of her relationship with theEarl of Leicester, played byJeremy Irons. Part 2 focuses on her subsequent relationship with theEarl of Essex, played byHugh Dancy.
The series originally was broadcast in the United Kingdom in two two-hour segments onChannel 4. It later aired onHBO in the United States,CBC andTMN in Canada,ATV inHong Kong,ABC in Australia, andTVNZ Television One in New Zealand.
The series went on to winEmmy,Peabody, andGolden Globe Awards.
In 1579,Elizabeth I refuses to marry. Chief advisorLord Burghley and spymasterFrancis Walsingham plan to have her wed theDuke of Anjou, which would cement an English-French alliance against Spain. Meanwhile, Elizabeth'sfavorite, theEarl of Leicester, opposes the match due to his affection for her.
Upon arriving in England, the Duke meets and courts Elizabeth, gaining her favour. She angrily banishes Leicester from court when she learns he is married and decides not to marry the Duke due to negative popular opinion towards the match.
Seven years later, Elizabeth welcomes Leicester back. Walsingham gathers evidence to prove that Elizabeth's Catholic cousinMary, Queen of Scots, is plotting to have her killed. Elizabeth is reluctant to have Mary executed because of the war it might ignite between England and Spain. During a secret meeting at her prison, Mary gives Elizabeth her word that she does not want her dead.
Elizabeth hesitantly gives Leicester command of theEnglish campaign to assist the Dutch against Spain, which fails and gives Spain control of Holland. Once it is proven Mary has, in fact, beenconspiring against Elizabeth's life, Mary is judged guilty of treason and executed.
After negotiations between England and Spain fail, a fleet of Spanish ships are sent for England. Elizabeth gives Leicester command of the land forces and rides with him and his stepson, the Earl of Essex, toTilbury, where they expect the Spanish to attempt a landing and where Elizabeth deliversa speech to the troops.
TheSpanish Armada is ultimately defeated, but Leicester falls gravely ill as they learn of the English victory. On his deathbed, Leicester bids Essex to take care of Elizabeth.
By 1589, Elizabeth has fallen in love with Essex, who is now her favourite. When Essex takes part ina military expedition to Lisbon against her wishes, she is openly outraged but forgives him in spite of his failure to take the city from the Spanish. She grants him ten percent of a tax on sweet wines and a seat on thePrivy Council of which Lord Burghley's sonRobert was also recently made a member.
Essex and Cecil develop a rivalry, as illustrated by the affair of Elizabeth's physicianDr. Lopez, who is hanged based on evidence brought forth by Essex of his participation in a Spanish plot against Elizabeth, evidence proved questionable after the fact by Cecil.
Essex's political ambitions clash with his devotion and loyalty to Elizabeth. As Elizabeth finds her young lover's behavior becoming increasingly problematic, she draws closer to Cecil, who is namedSecretary of State following Walsingham's death. Essex is publicly hailed upon his return to England aftertaking Cadiz from the Spanish, but his relationship with Elizabeth begins to deteriorate.
She and Cecil suspect Essex of secretly communicating withJames VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots and a potential successor to the English throne. After Burghley's death,Elizabeth sends Essex to Ireland to put down a rebellion, but he instead makes a truce and returns to England alone. Elizabeth puts Essex under house arrest.
Essex and his followersfail to start a rebellion in London and are captured. At his trial, after accusing Cecil of collaborating with Spain but failing to offer proof, Essex is found guilty of treason and beheaded. Sometime later, Elizabeth becomes listless, going for three weeks without eating before making her way to her bed and requesting a priest, saying she is minded to die as she closes her eyes for the last time.
8 actors receivebilling in theopening credits of 1 or both parts:
The full cast of each part is listed in the closing credits of each part. Apart from those receiving star billing, those in Part 1 are:
Apart from those receiving star billing and Salaman as Dr Lopez, those in Part 2 are:
According to director Tom Hooper, Mirren "came onboard before the script was written because the feeling was that it was only worth doing if she would play it."[2] Hooper and Mirren had previously worked together onPrime Suspect 6. The project was originally going to be 2 hours and focus on her relationship with the Earl of Essex, but Mirren "felt that there should be more politics" according to writer Nigel Williams.[1] The series was filmed inVilnius,Lithuania, where massive sets were constructed inside a sports arena[1] that was abandoned in the 1970s.[3]Palace of Whitehall set was constructed to scale from original plans.[1]
AtMetacritic, which assigns aweighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics,Elizabeth I received an average score of 81% based on 21 reviews.[4]
David Wiegand of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote that Mirren's performance "is powerful enough to shatter your television screen, not to mention any notion you might have had that if you've seen one Elizabeth—Bette Davis,Glenda Jackson orCate Blanchett, for example—you've seen them all." He added that Irons, who he felt "has sometimes settled into craggy self-parody in lesser films [...] invests Leicester with as much depth and complexity as he can, and he is every bit Mirren's equal onscreen."[5]
Brian Lowry ofVariety felt that the second part was better than the first, praised Mirren's performance and wrote that "[director] Tom Hooper, who previously directed Mirren inPrime Suspect 6, indulges [writer Nigel] Williams' penchant for long, theatricalmonologues, which require a little getting used to in the slow early going. Gradually, however, as with the best Britishcostume drama, the narrative becomes absorbing."[6]
Alessandra Stanley ofThe New York Times wrote that Mirren is "one of the few actresses working today who can actually convincingly play a historical figure in her 40s" and thatElizabeth I was more historically accurate thanElizabeth (1998), though she felt that "[the miniseries'] interpretation, like so many others, wallows in the painful self-pity of a powerful, aging woman who craves true love". While the miniseries is visually "no match for the 1998 movie" to Stanley, she concludes thatElizabeth I offers "a richly drawn portrait of a powerful woman who is both ruthless and sentimental, formidable and mercurial, vain and likable."[7]