Series shows Elizabeth I’s youth, with abuse, conspiracy and drama

I love history. I love biography. Putting the two themes together, I am in delirium. Starz Play has an entire fascinating segment, very novelistic, recovering the stories of the British queens of the York and Tudor dynasties and will soon move to the fascinating Catherine de Medici. For now, the never-before-seen content explores the youth of Elizabeth I and how the traumas of that era defined his reign years later. Becoming Elizabeth it is, therefore, a series to pay attention to.

To contextualize. when the english Philippa Gregory created a genre “historical fiction”, of which she is considered “queen”, opened the door for TV to revisit remarkable personalities with another perspective. One of Philippa’s biggest best sellers, The Other Boleynbecame a BBC series and later a film starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson (where he recounts the stories of Anne Boleyn and your sister, Marywho was also Henry VIII’s mistress).

Building on this success, the author published a series of books on the Plantagenets, the ruling house that preceded that of the Tudors. These books were the basis of the series already adapted for Starz, The White Queen, The White Princess and The Spanish Princess. Perhaps because the rights of A Another Boleyn were not available, the platform skipped that part of the story by going straight to her daughter Elizabeth I’s youth with the series Becoming Elizabeth.

The series now distances itself from Philippa’s content and is authored by the playwright Anya Reisswho has written some critically acclaimed plays and is known for EastEndersfrom the BBC. Becoming Elizabeth also has great female screenwriters in addition to Anya, such as Emily Ballou (taboo), Anna Jordan (Succession) and Suhayla El-Bushra (ackley bridge) and it makes a difference.

The narrative explores the period of Elizabeth’s adolescence, when she was – for being the daughter of a traitor – distant from the throne and in the midst of the succession dispute between her brothers, Mary (daughter of Catarina Aragon) and Edward (son of Jane Seymour). That’s why the series describes it as “the young Elizabeth Tudor, an orphaned teenager who becomes embroiled in the politics and sex scandals of the English court on her quest to secure the crown.”

The “scandal” that the series shows is true and almost cost the future Queen’s life because it tarnished his reputation. Unsurprisingly, although cited by historians, it is the something that Elizabeth I herself later tried to erase it from his biography, without total success. After all, her image (and brand) of “Virgin Queen” could not be threatened because of the abuse she suffered at the age of 13.

And here we need to mention that the series chose a strand, that of consent or not, but officially Elizabeth I always claimed to have been a victim and abused. It all happened when, after the death of her father, she was adopted by her stepmother, Catherine Parr. The environment where she was supposed to be safe turned into a nightmare when Catherine’s husband, Thomas Seymourexceeded all the rules of decorum and would have even sexually abused the girl.

To minimally lighten the theme, the series puts Elizabeth at 15 instead of 13, which technically in modern times still qualifies as rape. At the time she lived, it would have been “seduction”. The princess’s apparent consent to the couple’s sexual and power games does not change the fact, but that is precisely what the authors are revisiting because the traumas of that period defined Elizabeth as an adult.

The period reenactment is wonderful. Interestingly, the role of a queen symbol of the English monarchy is in the hands of the German actress Alicia von Rittbergwhich merges the innocence and curiosity inherent in the character’s age at the time, but also highlights the wit that would later mark Elizabeth’s reign. Tom Cullenwho became known for the series knightfall, contextualizes the complex, sexy and vain Thomas Seymour, whose political ambition was immoral and immoral. He and Catherine Parr (Jessica Raine) took advantage of the affective lack of Henry VIII’s heirs to control their positions at court. It is worth noting the performance of Romola Garai like Mary I, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, less villainous than she is usually painted even before the years that marked her as bloody mary it is yes, Bella Ramsay (our eternal Lyanna Mormont from game of Thrones) that gives certain and sad innocence to the tragic Jane Grey, perhaps the biggest victim of this whole story. Here is my commitment to try to return to these two later on and list the series for “Marathon das Rainhas”. For now, seeing how Elizabeth became a great Queen is always fascinating.