EXCLUSIVE: A trio of former Grey’s Anatomy showrunners are teaming on an ITV period drama that will reimagine the life of a young Elizabeth I in the court of the notorious King Henry VIII.
As the BBC’s high-profile Tudor series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light amasses solid ratings, Joan Rater, Tony Phelan and William Harper are teaming on Majesty, which is being directed by Mr Bates vs the Post Office helmer James Strong. The show comes from Strong’s nascent Studiocanal-backed indie Strong Film & Television and is being sold by Studiocanal.
Majesty will depict the life of a young Elizabeth I and her place in the court of King Henry VIII. Yet far from being an historical account of Elizabeth’s early years, it will reimagine her life based upon conspiracy theories which surrounded her when she was young. Elizabeth I became Queen a decade after Henry VIII’s death, ruling for nearly 50 years. She has been the subject of plenty TV and film projects down the years including a Helen Mirren-led mini series and Cate Blanchett movie.
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Rater, Phelan and Harper are three of the highest-profile American scribes to try their hands at creating a British show. The pair worked across more than 50 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. They also co-created and EP CBS’ Fire Country, which is currently in production on its third season, along with its spin-off drama Sheriff Country. Other credits include NatGeo/Disney+ limited drama series A Small Light.
“Majesty is an emotional, funny, and contemporary-feeling alternate history about how three outsiders try to stay alive while hiding a secret that, if discovered, would rock England to its foundations,” the trio said. “Majesty allows us to have fun with history while illuminating who we are now. This show is pure wish-fulfilment of how people devoted to the public good suddenly find themselves in a position to make a difference.”
In Strong, the three have landed on one of the UK’s hottest TV directors, with whom they have already worked on Fire Country. He directed outsize ITV drama hit Mr Bates, which generated national news headlines for weeks about the devastating post office scandal and was critically acclaimed. Other credits include Vigil, Broadchurch and Liar. He launched his production company last year with Matt Tombs and Majesty is its first revealed project to land a buyer.
Strong called the Majesty scripts a “director’s dream as we get to re-imagine and recreate an iconic piece of English history and tell a period story that looks stunning.”
Cameras will roll on Majesty next year, with cast yet to be confirmed. ITV drama boss Polly Hill will oversee for the network and Studiocanal is distributing. Hill hailed a “perfect illustration of the range of drama that we want to see on ITV as we continue to strive to make the best and most ambitious mainstream drama for our UK audiences.”
Majesty comes with the buzzy Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light having launched on the BBC several weeks back, attracting around 3 million viewers per ep on linear. The Hilary Mantel sequel adaptation stars Damian Lewis and Mark Rylance and tells the story of Thomas Cromwell navigating the Tudor court in the aftermath of the execution of Anne Boleyn. The show airs on PBS Masterpiece in the States.
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