Elizabeth - Episode Guide

The first part focuses on Elizabeth's early life - before her coronation she was disinherited, sexually abused and imprisoned, while Henry VIII had her mother executed. The sexual abuse coupled with the uprising by the Protestant Wyatt against Queen Mary, which led to Elizabeth's imprisonment in the Tower of London, may have resulted in the Queen's deep mistrust of men.

In this section Starkey focuses on the early years of Elizabeth's rule and her reluctance to marry. Her dalliances with court favourites like Lord Dudley provoked speculation, but what concerned her advisers was her refusal to consider a suitor from France or Spain, powers which constituted a military threat. She was in a precarious position: a Protestant Queen in a Catholic country, and Mary, Queen of Scots, who wanted to claim the throne and return the nation to Catholic rule, was a great threat to Elizabeth.

This section focuses on what was to be Elizabeth's finest hour - the rout of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Ironically, Elizabeth loathed war - as a woman, she could not lead her own troops and distrusted her military commanders. Several factors contributed to the outbreak of War, including the assassination of William Prince of Orange and Elizabeth's decision to execute her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.

This edition focuses on how Elizabeth presided over a golden age following the defeat of the Armada. National pride followed in the wake of the flourishing of literature, an age of prosperity and a new sense of England being a world power. But problems continued to plague the Queen as she got older.