Elizabeth I

Beavis and Butthead: The "Virgin" Queen... "heh heh heh"

HBO's production of Elizabeth I won the Emmy for best movie last night; I saw some clips and found it remarkably similar to the BBC production The Virgin Queen (BBC page). I dropped by the HBO website and saw some photos--evidently the way it portrays the relationship of the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, to the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereaux, differently (in The Virgin Queen it is insinuated that the Earl of Leicester is the true father of the Earl of Essex), and one assumes from one of the stills that Elizabeth is present for the death of the Earl of Leicester in Elizabeth I.

I've seen The Virgin Queen--there is not much discussion of the religious conflict; it is assumed and portrayed to a tiny extent; it makes Elizabeth I a very strong proponent of the "new religion"--maybe she was. I wonder how Elizabeth I will handle it. I suspect it cannot be as bad as the 1998 movie Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchette (can you believe they are making a sequel to it?). Despite their talents, Jeremy Irons is a bit too old to play a young Rober Dudley, and the same can be said of Helen Mirren as Elizabeth, and this is probably the greatest flaw with the production.



Hugh Dancy is at least young enough... I wonder what the Lady Downstairs thinks of him?


Ah well, enough fuss over a "heretic queen"... it's too bad they destroyed the monasteries, or the monks would be praying for her soul. I wonder if there are any Catholic religious or priests in the U.K. who make it part of their vocation to pray for the English monarch, past and present?

I note that neither woman cast to play Mary, Queen of Scots was particularly attractive--an English prejudice? Or historically accurate?

Barbara Flynn, in Elizabeth I:


Charlotte Winner plays Mary in The Virgin Queen, but I can't find any photos of her online.

I have no clue, really, as to how historically accurate either production is...