• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 12, age appropriate for kids over 14; suggested age 14.

• Is it any good?

  4.0

• Common Sense says

  Handsome, talky HBO miniseries with Helen Mirren.

Why We Rated This for Ages 14 and Up

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  Court life is complicated and messy; betrayal and manipulation are common, and characters switch loyalty at the drop of a hat (or clink of a coin). That said, Elizabeth's dedication to England is noble.
• Role models :

  Not many movies are made about kindly, well-behaved, peaceful kings and queens. Elizabeth is mercurial -- passionate, poised, and witty, but also often moody and bitter. At one point she unleashes a reign of torture and executions against her supposed enemies (Catholics, mainly). Though under some circumstances she can hardly be blamed for not showing more grace under pressure. At the end of her life her bad choices seem to weigh heavily on her -- or do they? Her famous virginity is a constant theme but is rarely discussed directly; in a final scene she more or less declares her love for the British people over her own affairs. Her two main suitors, Essex and Leicester, don't quite love Elizabeth enough to not get other women pregnant, but the older Leicester seems to have widsom and humility more on his side. Only one of the Queen's advisors, the dwarfish Robert Cecil, seems immune to all the plotting and scheming at the court.
• Violence:

  Though it takes up just a small amount of screen time, it's pretty intense. There's a grisly scene of torture, with disembowlments and eviscerations of living men. A woman is decapitated by an executioner, not very cleanly and in ghastly closeup. A public hand-chopping-off is shown from a distance. There's an assassination attempt on the queen by dagger and a swordfight that draws blood. A man undergoes torture on the rack. Musket fire kills a number of men.
• Sex:

  Intense smooching and cuddling with the queen, but it never goes farther than that. A couple of young, unmarried women are revealed to be pregnant. An opening credit scene shows Elizabeth being slowly, ritualistically stripped for what turns to be a gynecological exam (not explicit).
• Language:

  The queen calls a character "a son of a whore." The term "bitch" is used as a double entendre.
• Consumerism:

  Not an issue.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Social drinking, talk of the quality of Ireland's whiskey.

What Parents Need to Know

About Elizabeth I

Families Can Talk About