SUNDAY 22 JANUARY
Drama
The Virgin Queen
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC1 London & South East
VIDEO Plus+: 2025
Subtitled, Widescreen
Episode written by Paula Milne
1/4
Anne-Marie Duff, erstwhile queen of the Gallagher household in Shameless, flings herself wholeheartedly into the role of a real monarch in this impressive new drama series. She's pretty good, too - though as The Virgin Queen will encompass Elizabeth I's entire reign, tonight she's little more than a whey-faced girl, imprisoned by her Catholic half-sister, Queen Mary (Joanne Whalley), who's convinced Elizabeth is plotting a Protestant coup. But if Elizabeth is a slip of a thing, she has steel in her spine, and refuses to be cowed by Mary or by the latter's selfseeking henchmen. When word finally comes that Mary is dead and Elizabeth is required in London to be crowned queen, she's more than ready. It's all good, stirring stuff, with an excellent cast. But of course it's Duff who commands the attention.
RT reviewer: Alison Graham
Elizabeth - Anne-Marie Duff
Queen Mary - Joanne Whalley
Robert Dudley - Tom Hardy
William Cecil - Ian Hart
Kat Ashley - Tara Fitzgerald
Lettice Knollys - Sienna Guillory
Lord Chancellor Gardiner - Robert Pugh
Earl of Essex - Dexter Fletcher
Duke of Norfolk - Kevin McKidd
Cardinal Pole - Michael Feast
King Philip - Stanley Townsend
.