Elizabeth R - Episode 5 of 6 (BBC 1971) - AVI/PAKG

Elizabeth R is an Emmy Award-winning BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson in the title role. It was first broadcast on terrestrial channel BBC Two from February to March 1971, and was later broadcast in America on the premiere season of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.



This acclaimed series is considered to be a largely accurate historical portrayal of the life and times of Elizabeth I of England unlike some later historical dramas portraying the Tudor dynasty such as The Tudors, The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth, The Golden Age which contain many inaccuracies.



The series was essentially a follow-up to the successful Six Wives of Henry VIII of 1970. Bernard Hepton as Cranmer, Basil Dignam as Bishop Gardiner, John Ronane as Thomas Seymour, and Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr, reappeared in the same roles in Elizabeth R.



Glenda Jackson's tour de force performance in the title role won her 2 Emmy Awards - for Best Actress in a Drama Series and Best Actress in a Movie/TV Special (for the episode "Shadow in the Sun"). The series itself won the Emmy for the Best Dramatic Series of 1972.



Costume designer Elizabeth Waller recreated many of the historical Elizabeth's actual gowns for Glenda Jackson, adapting them from a number of the Queen's famous, official portraits.Cast



Glenda Jackson - Elizabeth

Robert Hardy - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Ronald Hines - Sir William Cecil

Michael Williams - Francois, Duke of Anjou

Robin Ellis - Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex

Stephen Murray - Sir Francis Walsingham

John Shrapnel - Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex

Jason Kemp - Edward VI of England

Daphne Slater - Queen Mary

Vivian Pickles - Mary, Queen of Scots

Hamilton Dyce - Amyas Paulet

Rachel Kempson - Kat Ashley

Peter Jeffrey - King Philip of Spain

David Collings - Anthony Babington

Bernard Holley - Gilbert Gifford

John Woodvine - Sir Francis Drake

John Nettleton - Sir Francis Bacon

Angela Thorne - Lettice Knollys

James Laurenson - Simier

Hugh Dickson - Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

Nicholas Selby - Sir Walter Raleigh

Margaretta Scott - Catherine de' Medici

John Ronane - Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

Bernard Hepton - Archbishop Cranmer

Basil Dignam - Bishop Gardiner

Rosalie Crutchley - Catherine Parr

Brian Wilde - Richard Topcliffe.Episode 5 - The Enterprise of England



Whispers of war fill the air in Elizabeth's court and in Spain. The infirm King Philip II of Spain is eager to avenge the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, (and incidentally, make good on his inheritance from Mary as the Catholic claimant to the English throne - which Mary bequeathed to him). Philip urges an unprepared fleet, commanded by the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia, to sail on England. Even as Elizabeth rebukes the hawks (privateers) in her council (both Walsingham and Sir Francis Drake), with hopes of peace (encouraged by Cecil, who is now Lord Burghley), the Spanish Armada appears on the horizons of England. Her fate and the future of the country now lie in the hands of Drake, and the Navy. England triumphs, but Elizabeth pays a heavy emotional price.