Who’s who?o
Over the course of her long and
successful career, Dame Helen
Mirren has given her take on
various royal figures – including
Queen Charlotte in The Madness
of King George, her Emmy-winning
performance in TV series Elizabeth I,
and her Oscar-winning portrayal
of Elizabeth II in The Queen.
Now, the actress adds another
compelling and unforgettable royal
ruler to her glittering CV as she heads
the cast of Sky Atlantic’s sumptuous
new drama Catherine the Great.
Written by Nigel Williams,
who penned Mirren’s 2005 series
Elizabeth I, the four-part drama
was filmed in Russia, Lithuania and
Latvia and follows the formidable
18th-century Empress of Russia
during her momentous later years
as she transforms the nation into
one of Europe’s greatest powers.
It also reveals the political and
sexual intrigue that surrounded
Catherine’s colourful court,
including her passionate romance
with military
officer Grigory
Potemkin
(Jason Clarke).
We caught up
with Mirren, 74,
to find out more
about the series...What drew you
to the role of C atherine the
Great? I had read books about
her reign and I was fascinated by
the story. It’s an extraordinary
tale of a woman, an outsider,
coming into Russia – a country
that was, at the time, so vast and
so backward, medieval in many
ways. I think Catherine was an
extraordinary woman.NEW DRAMA
Catherine the Great
Thursday, Sky Atlantic HD, 9pm
‘The sexual world
of the Russian
court was hard for
me to compute’
DAME HELEN MIRREN
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How did she overcome her status
as an out sider? Catherine came
to Russia at the age of 15 [from
Prussia]. She was young and
fairly uneducated, so she educated
herself because her husband,
Emperor Peter III, paid absolutely
no attention to her. She learnt
Russian and the history of the
country, and ended up becoming
more Russian than her husband.
Through the force
of her intellect, her
will and her energy,
Catherine ruled
the country very
successfully. She felt
it was her destiny.
She knew she
was extraordinary
and she was right:
she had courage, energy, intellect,
drive and ambition.What challenges did the role
present? What was difficult to get
my head around, honestly, was the
whole sexual world of the Russian
court. It was so different from our
English, Protestant attitudes. The
whole sexuality of the women,started by Elizabeth, Catherine’s
aunt by marriage, meant that they
behaved like men. It was unheard
of in any other European court for
women to be allowed the same
sexual freedom as men. So that
was hard for me to compute.In the first episode, Catherine’s
difficult relationship with her son
Paul becomes apparent. Do you
think she was heartless? Yes, I
think she could be very cruel. A lot
of very bright people can be, and
she was ruthless – she had to be.
Paul was Catherine’s successor,
but he loathed her and tried to
pull her down. To this day there is
a discussion about who his father
was. There is an accepted historical
theory that Paul’s father was not the
Emperor, but a lover that Catherine
had at the time. But actually, when
you look at paintings of Paul, he
looks very much like the Emperor.
It’s a bit of a mystery.So what kind of ruler was
Catherine? The great sadness
about Catherine, her great tragedy,
is that she started off as a liberaliser,wanting to free the slaves and the
servants, and wanting to give
women more autonomy. But the
reality was that Russia was owned
by the landowners and she would
have been murdered if she had
gone against their wishes. So she
had to keep them happy.Are you interested much in
the British royal family? I do
watch The Crown. I just think it’s
beautifully realised. I met the
Queen recently in the paddock at
a horse event. In her old age, she has
that indomitable spirit. I love her.
I’m not a royalist; I’m a queenist.Are there still any roles you
would love to play? I’ve always
had a secret ambition to play
a villain in a James Bond movie,
but I’m not very proactive in
that way. James Bond is such a
well-oiled machine. It’s hard to
put a spoke in that wheel.Catherine with
her inner circle
at courtJason Clarke
as her lover
PotemkinGrigory Orlov
Richard Roxburgh
Catherine’s former lover
orchestrated the coup that
brought her to power, with
the help of his brother
Alexei (Kevin McNally).Nikita Panin
Rory Kinnear
A talented diplomat,
Catherine’s shrewd
political advisor is also
governor to her son Paul
(Joseph Quinn).Countess
Praskovya
Bruce
Gina McKee
Catherine’s lady-in-
waiting is a lifelong
friend and confidante.Grigory
Potemkin
Jason Clarke
The military leader
helps bring glory to
Russia and is also
Catherine’s lover.Catherine
the Great
Dame Helen Mirren
The astute, steely monarch
wields supreme power in
Russia following her
husband’s assassination.Alexander
Vasilchikov
Sam Palladio
After her relationship with
Orlov comes to an end,
Catherine takes the young
nobleman as her lover.