DVD Review: Helen Mirren at the BBC

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 25, 2008, 17:02 GMT

Helen Mirren is an award winning actress and her turns as Queens named Elizabeth secured her both an Oscar and a Golden Globe.  This new set highlights the actress covering 1974 till 1982 in a number of performances from the BBC television archives.  

Dame Helen Mirren is an actress of great note and some of her fame comes from her turns in Prime Suspect. 

Audiences today recognize her for her turns as Queen Elizabeth I (reigning 1558-1603) in a television miniseries and Queen Elizabeth II (reigning 1952 till the present) in a film by Stephen Frears. 

She was royally awarded for both roles and secured a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the performances.  This new set brings together some of her earlier roles that aired on the BBC.  

The Changeling (1974) - The Changeling featured Helen Mirren in one of her first breakout performances, as tragic heroine Beatrice-Joanna. Betrothed to Lord Alonzo De Piraquo, Beatrice-Joanna finds herself in love with nobleman Alsemero instead. Her decision to have Alonzo murdered puts into motion a heartbreaking chain of events with tragic consequences.
 
The Apple Cart (1975) - Helen Mirren and Prunella Scales appear in The Apple Cart, a Shaw play set forty years in the future, where the king must match wits with an unruly mistress and a cabinet seeking to transform the nation into a constitutional monarchy.
 
Caesar and Claretta (1975) - Robert Hardy and Helen Mirren star as Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci who spend their last night locked together in a small peasant cottage by Italian partisans.
 
The Philanthropist (1975) - Philip and his circle of friends talk philology, playwriting and everything in between. During the course of their party, couples form and love blooms as they socialize, insulated from the seismic events unfolding in the world around them. In The Philanthropist Helen Mirren appears in a showstopping performance as Philip’s fiancée Celia. 
 
The Little Minister (1975) - Helen Mirren plays Babbie, a mysterious young gypsy girl who incites a Luddite riot in rural 1840’s Scotland. Drawn into this event is Babbie’s love interest Gavin Dishart, the new “little minister” of Thrums's Auld Licht church. But before the two can declare their love for each other, Babbie has a secret that belies her gypsy past. 
 
The Country Wife (1977) - Horner, a first-class rake, devises a brilliant scheme to lure in the fine married ladies of London society under their husbands noses. But Horner soon meets his match when he becomes involved with Margery Pinchwife (Mirren), an innocent newlywed from the country.
 
Blue Remembered Hills (1979) - It’s 1943 England, and the end of World War II is still two years away. On a sunny afternoon, seven children play in the Forest of Dean. However, their innocent and carefree day suddenly turns deadly when a harmless prank goes horribly wrong. This Dennis Potter play is traditionally cast with adult actors as the children, and Helen Mirren does not disappoint as pigtailed Angela.
 
Mrs. Reinhardt (1981) - Helen Mirren is recently separated Mrs. Reinhardt, who meets a charming American during her trip to the south of France. Things are going very well until Mrs. Reinhardt can’t help but feel that something isn’t quite right.
 
Soft Targets (1982) - Alexei Varyov is a Soviet journalist who is paranoid of the British Home Office, certain that there is a conspiracy against him. However, he bumps into and can’t help being drawn to Celia Watson (Mirren), and is soon whisked into an unforgettable world of Sussex parties and society weddings, meeting all sorts of eccentric people along the way. 

Each of the teleplays is presented in fullscreen as they were aired on television.  Special features include something old and something new.  Disc one features a 2007 30 minute interview with Dame Helen about these performances and disc two has a 14 minute interview of Mirren by Michael Parkinson from 1975.  There’s also a collectible booklet with some facts about Mirren as well as the dramatic productions in the set.  

The set is a fine collection of works from a grand actress, even if she does have Caligula and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu in her resume (in every life a little rain must fall).  Fans will definitely want to check out these early works.  

Helen Mirren at the BBC is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.