The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth's life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister's terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex.

Anne-Marie Duff, Tom Hardy, Ian Hart, Dexter Fletcher, Joanne Whalley, Ben Daniels, Kevin McKidd, Emilia Fox, Tara Fitzgerald, Hans Matheson, Sienna Guillory, Robert Pugh, Ewen Bremner, Emma Kennedy, Ulrich Thomsen, Jason Watkins, Richard Syms, Matthias Gibbig, Enzo Cilenti, Stephen Walters, Vincent Franklin, Charlotte Winner, Nicholas Hewetson, Tony Maudsley, Nigel Martin Davey, Gavin Brocker, Jordy Cernik, Dale Mercer, Ralph Ineson, Derek Riddell, Neil Stuke, Shaun Evans, Tom Chambers, Sebastian Armesto