Helen Mirren turns in an Oscar-winning performance as the Queen in Stephen Frears's critically acclaimed, sharp, witty, pertinent and highly successful biopic about the British monarch. The film focuses on events in the wake of the death of Princess Diana.
On 1 September 1997, the world wakes to the tragic news that Princess Diana has died in a car crash. The event sends a shock wave of public grief around the world, but where are the Queen and the Royal family?
It would have been easy for The Queen to turn into a satire, but Frears avoids this. Keeping things fairly straight, to the point and with some humour, he allows events to unfold - sometimes using archive clips - as he examines the interaction between the monarch and the then prime minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen).
Mirren is very convincing and quite superb in the lead role, and there's fine support from James Cromwell as the Duke of Edinburgh, Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother and Tim McMullan as Alistair Campbell.
The Queen is a Film programme that first aired in 2006 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
