Tuesday 27th June. 8.00 AM – ‘A’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. Our first day on what is simply the most beautiful set in the movie – the Queen’s private chambers. This is Elizabeth’s inner sanctum, a personal area away from the troubles and responsibilities of court where we see the Queen at her most private and [...]
Skeletons in the Cupboard
Monday 26th June. 4.00 PM – ‘B’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. This part of the palace set has been dressed as Bess Throckmorton’s bedchamber and we find her here at night, asleep. But her dreams are troubled. Many members of the court had reason to fear the turbulent politics of Elizabeth's day. In an era when [...]
The Battle Begins
Saturday 24th June. 2.00 PM – ‘D’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. Today we see Elizabeth in her tent at Tilbury as she hears the news that the Armada has been engaged by the English fleet. The exteriors for the Tilbury sequences have already been shot at Brean Down in Somerset but we were unable to film [...]
Battle Plans
Friday 23rd June. 2.00 PM – ‘B’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. B stage has become the map room where Elizabeth and her councillors discuss the imminent arrival of the Spanish Armada. Rather than explain the armada’s strategy with plans on tables, the whole of the floor of this room has been designed as a Tudor map [...]
The Deceiver Decieved
Thursday 22nd June. 3.00 PM – ‘B’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. Still in the Privy Chamber but the room is now empty save for Elizabeth and Walsingham, for Walsingham has a confession to make. As the story reaches a crisis point Walsingham kneels before the queen to admit that he has been out-manoeuvred and has played [...]
And the answer is….
Wednesday 21st June. 12.30 PM – ‘B’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. Elizabeth announces her formal response to the marriage suit of the Archduke of Austria. Today the Privy Chamber is filled with senior courtiers and foreign emissaries, all gathered to hear the Queen’s final response to this, the last major move in her decades old marriage [...]
A House of Horrors
Tuesday 20th June. 2.30 PM – ‘J’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. A second visit to the torture chamber to discover the consequences of Walsingham’s prisoner talking. Our torture chamber set is a series of dark, damp rooms, their walls sprayed down to give a greasy glint in the subterranean gloom. Around the walls hang the tools [...]
In the Privy Chamber
Monday 19th June. 10.00 AM – ‘B’ Stage, Shepperton Studios. First day of the main studio shoot – we’re here now for five weeks – and amid the general business of State, presided over by the queen, some of the Privy Council again raise the issue of what should be done with Mary Queen of [...]
With this Ring….
Friday 17th June. 10.00 AM – Church of St. James, Dorney, Buckinghamshire. Inside this lovely 12th century (and possibly older) church, which stands next to Dorney Court, for the marriage of Bess and Raleigh. We don’t know exactly when or where Bess and Raleigh were married but we have chosen this unadorned mediaeval church, partly [...]
Dorney Revisited
Thursday 16th June. 9.00 AM – Dorney Court, Buckinghamshire. Shooting the last scene in the movie today at Raleigh’s house, which is un-named in the script but which we might assume is Sherborne in Dorset – the house he had fallen in love with many years before and which was granted to him by the [...]