Mary, Queen of Scott's, has been held prisoner in a British castle for 20 years, basically being spoiled while under house arrest, yet unable to leave. Behind the scenes scheming goes on with Catholic supporters of Queen Mary setting up a treachery against Queen Elizabeth. All Queen Mary seems to want is to return home or claim the throne of England through less nefarious means. Enemies of Queen Mary, desperate to rid themselves of her, step up to convince Queen Elizabeth to sign her execution, but she refuses. Their craftiness knows no bounds, and as history shows, that fate was sealed as Mary was in her castle prison.
Set nearly 30 years into her reign, Queen Elizabeth has given up on the idea of finding a husband and spawning an heir, so this episode deals mainly with political intrigue rather than the romantic pressures of the previous two episodes. Both queens are presented with noble personalities, so there's no Livia. Livilla, Messalina, Agrappinilla, Eleanor or Isabel to make a she devil out of either character.
Both women knew from birth that family loyalty in royalty is inconsequential when it comes to maintaining order for the throne. In their eyes, the other is the one doing the plotting, unaware of the set-up being plotted around them. In her second episode, Vivian Pickles is quite good, a bit more matronly and age appropriate than Vanessa Redgrave was in the same year's "Mary Queen of Scott's" where Jackson also played Elizabeth. Both portrayals are worth acclaim though. The men here in charge of the plot are quite sinister, especially Dudley who tells a condemned man that death is quick but the path to it is tedious before he taunts him with torture. History has been brutal for millenniums, but the subtlety of the hint of that brutality makes it all the more vicious.
Set nearly 30 years into her reign, Queen Elizabeth has given up on the idea of finding a husband and spawning an heir, so this episode deals mainly with political intrigue rather than the romantic pressures of the previous two episodes. Both queens are presented with noble personalities, so there's no Livia. Livilla, Messalina, Agrappinilla, Eleanor or Isabel to make a she devil out of either character.
Both women knew from birth that family loyalty in royalty is inconsequential when it comes to maintaining order for the throne. In their eyes, the other is the one doing the plotting, unaware of the set-up being plotted around them. In her second episode, Vivian Pickles is quite good, a bit more matronly and age appropriate than Vanessa Redgrave was in the same year's "Mary Queen of Scott's" where Jackson also played Elizabeth. Both portrayals are worth acclaim though. The men here in charge of the plot are quite sinister, especially Dudley who tells a condemned man that death is quick but the path to it is tedious before he taunts him with torture. History has been brutal for millenniums, but the subtlety of the hint of that brutality makes it all the more vicious.
