REVIEW: Queen of Scots

Broadcast: Wednesday, 29th November, 1967

Characters: William Maitland of Lethington and William Cecil, 1st Baron Lord Burghley

 Peter as William Maitland, with Ellen MacIntosh as Mary

Some Background

To mark its tenth birthday, STV decided to mount the biggest and most expensive single drama production in its history to date. The Queen of Scots, which was broadcast under the ‘Scottish Playbill’ umbrella, had 34 main parts and more than 20 extras, and ran for two hours. It featured an impressive cast list, including Peter Wyngarde, Victor Carin, John Laurie, James Copeland and Ellen McIntosh in the title role.

This historical play is centred around the reign, the captivity and, finally, the execution of Mary Stuart. “Scots have maintained a curious love-hate relationship for this fascinating woman which has never waned,” said the TV Times. “Some 150 books have been written about her, variously interpreting her character and actions according to their own prejudices.”

The play was in two parts, the first of which was written by Jack Gerson and set in Loch Leven, where Mary was imprisoned by the Scottish nobles, and the second part, written by Ian Stuart Black, was set in Fotheringay, where Mary’s cousin, Queen Elizabeth, kept her a prisoner. The writers set out to cut through the romance and put forward the truth. As Gerson told TV Times. “I believe that Mary did a Pontius Pilate act and washed her hands of Darnley’s murder. But I don’t believe she was further implicated. There are some matters like this in which you can’t be sure, but you have to make a decision.“

Mary Kerridge as Queen Elizabeth and Peter Wyngarde as Lord Burghley

Co-author Ian Stuart Black said: “When I was at school in Scotland, I believed that Elizabeth was a bad Queen, but the research I did in the past has taught me that she was a courageous woman deserving more sympathetic consideration than she usually gets.“

In fact, history shows that in the final years, it was only Elizabeth herself who was protecting Mary from her inevitable execution. But Mary’s ambition for her throne, made her a constant source of danger which finally had to be resolved.

The Great Hall at Fotheringay Castle, 1587. The executioner knelt to beg customary forgiveness from his victim. Then, the axe fell and gave birth to the most romantic legend in royal history.

Mary Stuart was colourful, reckless, indulgent, passionate and extraordinarily graceful. A mammoth two-hour dramatisation of her life ‘The Queen of Scots’, was screened on Wednesday, November 29th, 1961.

The production was directed by Geoffrey Nethercott whose wife, actress Ellen McIntosh, played the difficult title role. In the play, Ellen had to wear twelve heavy period costumes; they were lovely, but difficult to work in. However, the actress who suffered most from the costume difficulty, was Mary Kerridge, who played Queen Elizabeth. Her costume was copied from a portrait, was four feet wide and quite impossible to sit down in.

Altogether, there was a cast of sixty actors in the production, all meticulously dressed in 16th century costume. Peter, who played two parts in the production – William Maitland and Lord Burleigh – says that the play was extremely dramatic, which had caused a few headaches for the writers: “Some of the more crucial turning points in Mary’s life were some of the most shrouded in doubt. Although history professors from Glasgow University were on hand to advise, the writers had to make a few decisions of their own.

“For example, at the heart of Mary’s ruin were the so-called Casket Letters. These were reported to have been written by Mary to Boswell. They were love-letters full of poetry and sentiment, but also implicated her in her husband’s murder. The writer’s decided to assume these were forgeries.”

The writer’s, Ian Stuart Black and Jack Gerson, set out to cut through the romance and put forward the truth. Gerson believed that Mary did a Pontius Pilate act and washed her hands of Darnley’s murder. Co-Writer, Ian Stuart Black had been taught at school that Elizabeth had been a bad Queen, but the research he’s done later taught him that she was actually a very courageous woman deserving more sympathetic consideration, which was just what she got in the play. In fact, as both history and this production showed, it was only Elizabeth herself who was protecting Mary from her inevitable execution. But Mary’s ambition for her throne made her a constant source of danger which finally had to be resolved.

A Bit Of Trivia

The drama was broadcast only broadcast by Scottish Television and Grampian Television. Whilst filming ‘Queen of Scots’ – which went out live, Peter had decided to have a cigarette during an interval. When the red light went on to say that the commercial break had ended and that transmission had been resumed, the director was horrified to see Peter still puffing away in full Elizabethan costume! The Director had tried to contact the Studio Manager, but he had been standing in what’s known as a “blind spot”, so his radio wasn’t working. Thankfully, the moment Peter realised that they were back on air, he subbed out the cig and went straight into Shakespearian mode as if nothing had happened. The Play was only shown in the STV and Grampians (ITV) regions of Scotland but, thankfully, it remains intact, with the master tapes being kept in a Scottish film and TV archive.

Critics Comments

Pretty impressive for when it was made and given that it was a Scottish Television production. This TV play went out live on 29th November 1967 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of STV and was the most expensive show produced by them up to that point. Ellen McIntosh, from the great city of Dunfermline, takes on the title role but is joined by a huge array of recognisable acting talent. There are a few notable non-Scots (a brilliant Peter Wyngarde for example), but the majority of the cast are Scottish and include the great John Laurie playing John Knox (not for the first time on screen), a young Tom Conti playing Rizzio, and a string of well-kent Scottish faces including Walter Carr, Gerry Slevin, James Copeland and more. It is of course entirely studio-bound so perhaps feels somewhat lacking scale, but you can’t argue with a cast like that and given how much detail of the various plots surrounding Mary is packed in, it certainly does move along at a fair old pace. It’s dialogue-heavy of course, but it never feels too talky. Feels like it should really be regarded as a landmark of sorts in the history of Scottish TV but seems largely forgotten now, perhaps due to how scarcely it is seen. Alan Maxwell