THE WAR OF THE ROSES IN A MAJOR BBC DRAMA SERIES: THE WHITE QUEEN

I'm really excited for this new BBC drama series based on Philippa Gregory's novels  set during what she calls The Cousins' War , that is The War of the Roses.  THE WHITE QUEEN debuts tomorrow Sunday 16 June at 9 p.m. on BBC1 and will go on for 10 episodes. 

The 10-hour production blends in one series three of the novels by Ms Gregory: The Red Queen, The White Queen and The Kingmakers' Daughter. 

I've actually read only two of the three books and only liked the last one telling the story from Anne Neville's point of view. I'm a Ricardian, you know, and I'm really looking forward to my first Richard III in a TV series after a glimpse of him in an very old period drama I saw on Italian TV when I was a child, "La freccia nera", which was an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Black Arrow." I really hope they do him justice. We need to see him differently from what the Tudor propaganda made up and Shakespeare portrayed in his  eternal lines.

This is how BBC presents the series in their press pack:

The White Queen is the thrilling story of the women caught up in the ongoing conflict for the throne – they are some of the most ruthless players in history and will stop at nothing to support their own causes and those of the ones they love.

 The White Queen is a stunningly rich tale of love and loss, seduction and deception, betrayal and murder, vibrantly woven through the stories of three different, yet equally driven, women in their quest for power as they manipulate behind the scenes of history – Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville.

 The year is 1464 and England has been at war for nine years battling over who is the rightful King of England – it is a war between two sides of the same family, The House of York and The House of Lancaster.

The House of York’s young and devilishly handsome Edward IV (Max Irons – Red Riding Hood, The Host) is crowned King of England with the help of master manipulator the Earl of Warwick “The Kingmaker” (James Frain – True Blood, The Tudors). But when Edward falls in love and secretly marries a beautiful young widow, the commoner Elizabeth Woodville (introducing the actress Rebecca Ferguson) Warwick’s plan for control over the English throne comes crashing down around him. Frustrated by the new Queen’s influence he will stop at nothing to maintain his grip on the King.

The most beautiful woman in the land, Elizabeth Woodville marries for the love of her King, with the help of her mother Jacquetta (Academy & Tony award nominee Janet McTeer), a self-proclaimed sorceress. Elizabeth’s most fierce adversary is the staunchly loyal Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale – The Crimson Petal And The White) – a damaged and highly religious woman who would willingly lay down her life to see her young son Henry Tudor take the throne. And then there is Anne Neville (introducing Faye Marsay), Lord Warwick, The Kingmaker’s daughter – a pawn in her father’s battle for control; who finds her strength and ambition when she takes control of her destiny and marries the King’s younger brother Richard Duke of Gloucester (Aneurin Bernard – Ironclad, We’ll Take Manhattan).

The cast also includes: Juliet Aubrey (Countess of Warwick), Veerle Baetens (Margaret of Anjou), Joey Batey (Edward of Lancaster), Leo Bill (Sir Reginald Bray), Emily Berrington (Jane Shore), Ed Brody (Richard Grey), Ashley Charles (Thomas Grey), Elinor Crawley (Princess Cecily), Arthur Darvill (Harry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham), Shaun Dooley (Sir Robert Brackenbury), Simon Ginty (John Rivers), Caroline Goodall (Duchess Cecily), Andrew Gower (Lord Strange), Rupert Graves (Lord Thomas Stanley), Nick Hendrix (Edmund Beaufort), Michael Jenn (Dr Lewis), Ben Lamb (Anthony Rivers), Michael Maloney (Henry Stafford) and Michael Marcus (Henry Tudor), Freya Mavor (Princess Lizzy), Lizzy McInnerny (Lady Sutcliffe), Tom McKay (Jasper Tudor), Hugh Mitchell (Richard Welles), David Oakes (George Duke of Clarence), Eve Ponsonby (Mary Woodville), Robert Pugh (Baron Rivers), Frances Tomelty (Lady Beauchamp), Eleanor Tomlinson (Isabel Neville) and Rupert Young (Sir William Herbert).

The White Queen was filmed on location in Belgium. 

Interview with Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville

Interview with Max Irons as King Edward IV

Interview with Faye Marsay as Anne Neville

My review of The White Queen

My review of The Kingmaker's Daughter

My Richard III page