Channel Four Films (Firm)

Queen Elizabeth I must learn to weigh her counsel carefully and ignore her private yearnings if she is to keep her crown--and her head.

England, 1554. Henry VIII is dead. The country is divided, Catholic against Protestant. Henry's eldest daughter Mary, a fervent Catholic, is Queen. She is childless. The Catholics' greatest fear is the succession of Mary's Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. After Mary's death, Elizabeth ascends to the throne, thrust into an edgy world of political and religious flux she struggles to protect her power, life, and independence as the court boils with...