The Queen on TV One this weekend

The British Prime Minister and the Royal Family find themselves at odds in the wake of a national tragedy, in tonight’s multi-award-winning Sunday Theatre: The Queen (Sunday 8.30pm on TV ONE).

When news of the death of Princess Diana, undoubtedly the most famous woman in the world, breaks upon a shocked and disbelieving British public, Queen Elizabeth II (Dame Helen Mirren) retreats behind the walls of Balmoral Castle with her family, unable to grasp the public’s grief and how she should react.

For Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), the popular and newly-elected Prime Minister, the people’s need for reassurance and support from their leaders is palpable. As the unprecedented outpouring of emotion grows even stronger, Blair must find a way to reconnect the heavily-criticised Queen with the British public.

Producer Andy Harries says he was mulling over the idea of a film about the Queen while overseeing the production of the sixth award-winning Prime Suspect series starring Helen Mirren. At a read-through attended by all the cast, he was looking at Mirren and thought, “she’s the Queen of British drama and she looks a bit like the Queen. What a good idea, Helen as the Queen”.

For Mirren, who has created some of the most memorable characters in theatre, film and television, it was an irresistible offer. “I thought The Deal was a fantastic piece of work so I knew that I would be in very good hands,” says the actress. “It’s delicate material, dangerous material in a way, so you have to be confident that the people you are working with have the intelligence and ability to put a story like this on the screen without a cheap betrayal of the subject.”

Despite her years of experience, Mirren was happy to ask her co-star Michael Sheen for advice. She says he suggested she work closely with the dialect coach as early as possible, so she would feel comfortable with the voice and the mannerisms when shooting began. Mirren also gathered together the actors who were playing her family in the film at her house “so that we got used to the sound of each others voices as family and it wouldn’t feel like being with a whole group of people talking in funny voices.”

Mirren, like her co-stars, was aware of the pitfalls of playing a real person, particularly one as famous as the present Monarch. The challenge was negotiating the line between giving an accurate portrayal of the person and tipping over into caricature.

She explains: “You don’t want the audience caught up in your brilliant impersonation. You want them to believe who you are and go on your journey with you in an imaginative way. If the impersonation is too brilliant it can mean the truth is too intrusive; sometimes you have to step back from the truth, because in theatrical drama it can jar the audience out of their imaginative engagement with what you are doing.”

“I did a lot of research,” she continues. “I’m not very good at mimicry and even if you are the most brilliant mimic in the world you’ll only capture 50 per cent of what the real person is. Given the iconic status of the Queen, I was terrified. I was more nervous about this role than almost any other role.”

- TVNZ

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