“Elizabeth R” follows the life of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I — Henry VIII’s daughter by Anne Boleyn — through gradual transition from a young, beautiful princess to an unpopular old woman. Elizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays.
Glenda Jackson’s performance in the title role won her two 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 in 1972 (the first British TV series ever to win the American TV award, before Upstairs, Downstairs carried the award two years later). 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.
Shown on PBS Masterpiece Theatre.
Starring Glenda Jackson, Ronald Hines, Robert Hardy.
Note: In 1971 Glenda Jackson endured physical agonies with costumes that were so heavily padded she had trouble breathing and was unable to bend her arms. Some were also so heavy that she had to remain seated, others so big she had trouble walking through doors. And that was after she had already spent six hours in make up and prosthetics ageing herself up for the later programmes. – BBC The production filmed at a variety of locations including Penshurst Place which doubled as the Queen’s castle grounds and Chiddingstone in Kent.