A BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the unproduced screenplay

Unmade Movies: Alexander MacKendrick's Mary Queen of Scots

Alexander Mackendrick's unproduced screenplay about the most turbulent year of Mary Stuart's life 
 
'Rain-drenched spectacular... [Glenda] Jackson brings authority and asperity, but so much more' New Statesman 
 
The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures - spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Alfred Hitchcock and Dennis Potter, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks. 
 
One of seven 'unmade movies' available on audio, Mary Queen of Scots follows one tumultuous year in the life of the 16th Century monarch. It's 1566, and two clans are at war. Two religions - Catholic and Protestant - are in conflict. And two countries - England and Scotland - are about to collide. At the centre of this turmoil is 23-year-old Queen Mary: pregnant, isolated and vulnerable. Caught in a web of treachery, betrayal and murder, she must use her steely intelligence and every skill at her disposal to maintain her rightful position on the throne... 
 
The acclaimed director of Whisky Galore! and The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick spent nearly two decades struggling to adapt Mary Stuart's story for the silver screen, before retiring from filmmaking in 1969. Almost 50 years later, his cherished project was finally revived, directed by 'BAFTA Breakthrough Brit' Hope Dickson Leach and produced by Sandy Lieberson, Mackendrick's intended producer for the film. Narrated by the multi-award-winning Glenda Jackson, who twice played Elizabeth I in the 1970s, it stars Ellie Bamber (The Serpent) as Mary. Settle back and let yourself get carried away by this sweeping tale of passion, power, triumph and tragedy... 
 
 
Production credits 
Original screenplay by Alexander Mackendrick and Jay Presson Allen 
Directed by Hope Dickson Leach 
Executive Producers: Laurence Bowen, Peter Ettedgui, Sandy Lieberson and Frank Stirling 
Sound Design: Wilfredo Acosta 
Original music by Hutch Demouilpied 
A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4 
 
Cast 
Mary Stuart - Ellie Bamber 
Narrator - Glenda Jackson 
Maitland - Mark Bonnar 
Bothwell/Kerr - Emun Elliott 
Darnley - Edward Holcroft 
Morton - Bill Paterson 
Ruthven/Du Croc/Knox - Struan Rodger 
Murray/Rizzio/Taylor/Scout - Kevin Guthrie 
Paris/Porter - Jamie Quinn 
Mary Seton/Mary Fleming - Katharine O'Donnelly 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8 December 2018 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Rain-drenched spectacular... [Glenda] Jackson brings authority and asperity, but so much more

Alexander Mackendrick's unproduced screenplay about the most turbulent year of Mary Stuart's life 
 
'Rain-drenched spectacular... [Glenda] Jackson brings authority and asperity, but so much more' New Statesman 
 
The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures - spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Alfred Hitchcock and Dennis Potter, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks. 
 
One of seven 'unmade movies' available on audio, Mary Queen of Scots follows one tumultuous year in the life of the 16th Century monarch. It's 1566, and two clans are at war. Two religions - Catholic and Protestant - are in conflict. And two countries - England and Scotland - are about to collide. At the centre of this turmoil is 23-year-old Queen Mary: pregnant, isolated and vulnerable. Caught in a web of treachery, betrayal and murder, she must use her steely intelligence and every skill at her disposal to maintain her rightful position on the throne... 
 
The acclaimed director of Whisky Galore! and The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick spent nearly two decades struggling to adapt Mary Stuart's story for the silver screen, before retiring from filmmaking in 1969. Almost 50 years later, his cherished project was finally revived, directed by 'BAFTA Breakthrough Brit' Hope Dickson Leach and produced by Sandy Lieberson, Mackendrick's intended producer for the film. Narrated by the multi-award-winning Glenda Jackson, who twice played Elizabeth I in the 1970s, it stars Ellie Bamber (The Serpent) as Mary. Settle back and let yourself get carried away by this sweeping tale of passion, power, triumph and tragedy... 
 
 
Production credits 
Original screenplay by Alexander Mackendrick and Jay Presson Allen 
Directed by Hope Dickson Leach 
Executive Producers: Laurence Bowen, Peter Ettedgui, Sandy Lieberson and Frank Stirling 
Sound Design: Wilfredo Acosta 
Original music by Hutch Demouilpied 
A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4 
 
Cast 
Mary Stuart - Ellie Bamber 
Narrator - Glenda Jackson 
Maitland - Mark Bonnar 
Bothwell/Kerr - Emun Elliott 
Darnley - Edward Holcroft 
Morton - Bill Paterson 
Ruthven/Du Croc/Knox - Struan Rodger 
Murray/Rizzio/Taylor/Scout - Kevin Guthrie 
Paris/Porter - Jamie Quinn 
Mary Seton/Mary Fleming - Katharine O'Donnelly 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8 December 2018 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Alfred Hitchcock

Ernest Lehmann

Mark Gatiss

Anthony Hinds

D.M. Thomas

Dennis Potter

Harold Pinter

Karen Blixen

Joseph Conrad

Alexander Mackendrick

Jay Presson Allen

Arthur Miller

Michael Sheen

Peter Serafinowicz

Mark Strong

Hugh Laurie

David Suchet

Vanessa Kirby

Meera Syal

Full cast

Seven BBC Radio 4 Adaptations of Unproduced Screenplays

Seven legendary unproduced screenplays, resurrected and reinvented for BBC Radio 4 
 
The annals of movie history are full of lost treasures – spectacular scripts from world-renowned writers that could have been classics, had they only been made. Now, for the first time, some of these forgotten gems have been brought to life, fully realised as vivid, cinematic radio productions. Scripted by major 20th Century writers, they star a host of A-list actors and feature richly evocative, atmospheric soundtracks. 
 
Collected here are seven sensational ‘unmade movies’: 
 
Harold Pinter’s Victory, adapted from the novel by Joseph Conrad 
Harold Pinter’s The Dreaming Child, adapted from the novel by Karen Blixen 
Arthur Miller’s The Hook 
Alfred Hitchcock’s unfinished screenplay The Blind Man, completed by Mark Gatiss 
Hammer Horror’s The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula 
Dennis Potter’s The White Hotel 
Alexander MacKendrick’s Mary Queen of Scots 
 
These could-have-been classics are brought to life with stellar casts featuring Hugh Laurie, Bertie Carvel, Rose Leslie, Bill Paterson, Ellie Bamber, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rebecca Front, Anne-Marie Duff, Meera Syal, Vanessa Kirby and Mark Strong. Setting the scene and providing the ‘establishing shots’ – the original stage directions and descriptions from the screenplays – are narrators Simon Russell Beale, Anne Reid, David Suchet, Peter Serafinowicz, Michael Sheen, Simon McBurney and Glenda Jackson. 
 
Moving, mysterious, suspenseful, thrilling and terrifying, these dazzling productions will keep you enraptured from beginning to end. So sit back, grab some popcorn and let them play out on the biggest screen of all – that of your imagination. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and sexual scenes 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Books by Jay Presson Allen

Series by Jay Presson Allen

Unmade Movies

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter