The White Queen (TV series)

This article is about the upcoming television series. For other uses, see White Queen.

The White Queen
File:Whitequeenpromo2013.jpg
Genre	Drama Historical fiction
Written by	Emma Frost
Directed by	James Kent
Starring	David Oakes Amanda Hale Max Irons Rebecca Ferguson
Composer	John Lunn
Country of origin	United Kingdom Belgium
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	John Griffin George Faber Charles Pattinson for Company Pictures Eurydice Gysel
Producer	Gina Cronk
Original release
Network	BBC One VRT Starz
Release	Spring 2013

The White Queen is a television drama series, currently in production and based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling historical novel series The Cousins' War, scheduled to premiere on BBC One, Starz and VRT in 2013.

Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses and is the story of the women caught up in the ongoing conflict for the throne of England. The series starts in 1464—the nation has been at war for nine years fighting over who is the rightful King of England, as two sides of the same family, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, are in violent conflict over the throne. The story focuses on three women in their quest for power, as they manipulate behind the scenes of history—Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville.

Cast

House of York

• Max Irons as Edward IV of England
• Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville, the "White Queen" and consort to Edward IV.
• James Frain as Lord Warwick, "the Kingmaker", a great-grandson of John, Duke of Lancaster. Warwick died defending the House of Lancaster.
• Caroline Goodall as Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, a granddaughter of John, Duke of Lancaster, she was mother of Edward IV, George of Clarence, Richard of Gloucester, and aunt to Lord Warwick.
• David Oakes as George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV.
• Aneurin Barnard as Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III; brother of Edward IV.
• Janet McTeer as Jacquetta, Lady Rivers, Elizabeth Woodville’s mother and self-proclaimed sorceress.
• Faye Marsay as Lady Anne Neville, Lord Warwick's daughter—a pawn in her father’s battle for control as Princess of Wales (House of Lancaster) and eventually queen consort to King Richard III (House of York).
• Freya Mavor as Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter and child to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, later consort to Henry VII.

House of Lancaster

• Amanda Hale as Lady Margaret Beaufort, highly religious woman who would willingly lay down her life to see her young son Henry Tudor take the throne.
• Veerle Baetens as Margaret of Anjou, queen consort to Henry VI of England.
• Joey Batey as Edward of Lancaster, son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. Edward is married to Lady Anne Neville as her first husband.
• Michael Marcus as Henry VII of England.

Additional cast

• Eleanor Tomlinson (Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence), wife of George, Duke of Clarence and elder sister of Lady Anne Neville.
• Juliet Aubrey (Lady Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick), wife of Lord Warwick and mother to the Duchess of Clarence and Lady Anne.
• Frances Tomelty (Lady Beauchamp)
• Michael Maloney (Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham)
• Ben Lamb (Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers)
• Hugh Mitchell (Richard Welles)
• Simon Ginty (John Woodville)
• Eve Ponsenby (Mary Woodville), sister of queen consort Elizabeth Woodville and wife to Sir William Herbert.
• Rupert Young (Sir William Herbert, Lord Pembroke)
• Robert Pugh (Baron Rivers)
• Lizzy McInnerny (Lady Sutcliffe)
• Leo Bill (Reginald Bray)
• Rupert Graves (Lord Stanley), the 4th husband of Lady Margaret Beaufort.
• Oscar Kennedy as a youthful Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII), only son of Edmund Tudor and Lady Margaret Beaufort.
• Andrew Gower, Lord Strange
• Arthur Darvill, Harry Stafford
• Emily Berrington as (Jane Shore), mistress to Edward IV of England
• Nicholas Fagg, (Young Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset)
• Elinor Crawley as (Cecily of York), daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville and thus sister to Elizabeth of York.
• Otto Farrant, as (Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset), eldest son of Elizabeth Woodville by her first marriage to John Grey of Groby.
• Ashley Charles, as (Prince of Wales, later King Edward V), eldest son and heir to Edward IV by Elizabeth Woodville; later one of the Princes in the Tower.
• Ted Allpress, as (Richard of Shrewsbury), son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville; the other Prince in the Tower.

The large majority of the cast is British, but since the series is shot in Belgium, several local actors are featured: Veerle Baetens, Jurgen Delnaet, Joren Seldeslachts, Elsa Houben, Ben Forceville and Ben Van den Heuvel all appear in the series. Rebecca Ferguson who portrays Elizabeth Woodville the White Queen, is Swedish.

Production

The series lead writer is Emma Frost (Shameless) and produced by Company Pictures. Lisa McGee (Raw, Being Human) and Nicole Taylor (The Hour, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) are also on board as a writers.

James Kent (Inside Men, Marchlands) will direct the first three episodes. Other episodes will be directed by Jamie Payne (The Hour, Da Vinci's Demons) and Colin Teague (Being Human, Call the Midwife).

Cinematographer will be Jean Philippe Gossart, known for his work on Law & Order: UK and Strike Back: Vengeance and David Luther of The Hour and Law & Order: UK.

John Lunn (Downton Abbey, Marchlands) will compose the score.

The White Queen will be filmed on location in Bruges, Belgium. The budget is reported at 22 million euro and will take 125 days to shoot. Several landmarks from Bruges will feature in the series: the Gothic Hall is the Royal Court of Westminster Palace. The Heilige Geeststraat takes the place of a medieval London street. The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk will stand in for Westminster Chapel. The Heilige Bloedkapel is the Tower of London.

Executive producers are: John Griffin, George Faber, Charles Pattinson for Company Pictures, Eurydice Gysel for Czar Television, Polly Hill for the BBC, Philippa Gregory and Colin Callender.