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Did anyone see the two-part miniseries, shown on Saturday and Monday this week? If so, what was your reaction?
I thought it was superb. It focused on a more mature Elizabeth, and the two great loves of her life. The first night looked at her complex relationship with the Earl of Leicester, played with the usual understated skill of Jeremy Irons. The second night was her winter-of-life folly pursuing the young Earl of Essex (played by Hugh Dancy.)
This work focused on the private Elizabeth, a woman of apparently deep feeling and emotion, not the austere public Elizabeth, of whom we see paintings. Most of the action takes place in her privy chambers. She is seen getting out of bed in her plain nightclothes and bursting into council chambers to discuss matters of state. We see her only in rare moments (such as in celebration of the defeat of the Spanish Armada) as the bejeweled public figure, at the center of her devoted subjects.
Although it is often painted that Elizabeth was happy to have her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded, this version of history showed Elizabeth putting it off as long as she possibly could, and with her anguish after the deed is done.
It was a refreshing and candid alternative view of a great historical figure. If you can catch it on reruns, I would highly recommend that you see it. It was not a dry, dusty, historical melodrama, but an accessible and human accounting of someone who had to put aside her personal feelings in favor of the common good of her people.
I thought it was superb. It focused on a more mature Elizabeth, and the two great loves of her life. The first night looked at her complex relationship with the Earl of Leicester, played with the usual understated skill of Jeremy Irons. The second night was her winter-of-life folly pursuing the young Earl of Essex (played by Hugh Dancy.)
This work focused on the private Elizabeth, a woman of apparently deep feeling and emotion, not the austere public Elizabeth, of whom we see paintings. Most of the action takes place in her privy chambers. She is seen getting out of bed in her plain nightclothes and bursting into council chambers to discuss matters of state. We see her only in rare moments (such as in celebration of the defeat of the Spanish Armada) as the bejeweled public figure, at the center of her devoted subjects.
Although it is often painted that Elizabeth was happy to have her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded, this version of history showed Elizabeth putting it off as long as she possibly could, and with her anguish after the deed is done.
It was a refreshing and candid alternative view of a great historical figure. If you can catch it on reruns, I would highly recommend that you see it. It was not a dry, dusty, historical melodrama, but an accessible and human accounting of someone who had to put aside her personal feelings in favor of the common good of her people.