First, the good points. Cate Blanchett is absolutely convincing as Elizabeth and seeing her in full regalia is almost like seeing the real Elizabeth (as portrayed in paintings). Geoffrey Rush also churns out a stunning performance as Elizabeth's most loyal and effective advisor, Francis Walsingham. The costumes are very well designed and the overall feel was a rather convincing portrayal of England in that era. Now the bad points. I felt the story was rather unsatisfying and the show ended rather abruptly for me. I also felt that some of the characters could have been better developed and that some of the performances weren't as good as I'd expected, most notably Joseph Fiennes who did a far better job with Shakespeare in Love. As a DVD, the picture quality is excellent and the extras make this a DVD to own if you're a fan of period dramas.
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Drama - Director: Steve Shill, David Nutter, Danny Leiner, Tim Van Patten, Alan Taylor, Steve Buscemi, Jack Bender - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over
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