0:00:01 > 0:00:03What exactly did you do?
0:00:03 > 0:00:06One of the great British actors of all time.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07Thanks.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10She's best known as a woman in a man's world.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Pretty matchless, I think,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16in terms of what she does and what she brings to the screen.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18There is a real roll-up-your-sleeves,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20get-on-with-it quality to her, which is very attractive,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23as well as being the most glamorous woman in Britain.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24An actress of power...
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Go anywhere you please!
0:00:28 > 0:00:29I hate you!
0:00:29 > 0:00:31..and versatility.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33So she took her clothes off. So?
0:00:33 > 0:00:35So what?
0:00:35 > 0:00:38One of the toughest pensioners on Hollywood screens.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Of course, she's part of the establishment now,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42but she's the rebel in the group, you know, she's still the one
0:00:42 > 0:00:47who can do things that are unexpected and surprise us.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50These are the Many Faces of Dame Helen Mirren.
0:01:05 > 0:01:06No more riddles now.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10Dame Helen Mirren is one of Britain's biggest screen stars.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13She emerged in the 1960s as a fresh young actress
0:01:13 > 0:01:16ready for the challenges of a new generation.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Won't be rid of my musty husband.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25A favourite of avant-garde theatre and film, she found a national
0:01:25 > 0:01:29audience and redefined television cop shows in Prime Suspect.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32We've got him!
0:01:32 > 0:01:33We've got him!
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Since then, Helen's performances have continually driven back
0:01:39 > 0:01:42the boundaries for actresses of mature years.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45And while she appears on movie posters alongside Bruce Willis,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49she is just as happy back on a London stage.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Miss Penelope Squires!
0:01:53 > 0:01:56The first time we see Helen Mirren on screen, she's only 21,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58and it's literally a walk-on part
0:01:58 > 0:02:00in the Norman Wisdom slapstick Press For Time.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05It's an isolated walk-on part for a young lady
0:02:05 > 0:02:08who is consumed by the excitement of serious theatre.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13She had joined the National Youth Theatre at age 18,
0:02:13 > 0:02:18and very soon was playing Cleopatra at the Old Vic theatre.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20I started in the Youth Theatre.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23It gave me all my opportunities when I was a schoolgirl, and as far
0:02:23 > 0:02:27outside of the magical realms of theatre as you could possibly imagine.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Antony and Cleopatra was my, you know, big one.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34I did that at the Old Vic. An incredible experience.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36I also did Midsummer Night's Dream,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40and I was a walk-on in Coriolanus and in Hamlet.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46And it was an invaluable experience for me.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50By the time she was 20, she was playing major roles for The Royal
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Shakespeare Company and tackling versions of the classics for TV.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57I'll let you down the back way.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00But I don't know the way home, so I don't.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03My man shall wait upon you.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05What? Are you weary of me already?
0:03:05 > 0:03:07No, my life.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10It is that I may love you long to secure my love
0:03:10 > 0:03:12and your reputation with your husband.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15He may not know you again else.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Do you think to frighten me with that?
0:03:18 > 0:03:20What care I for my husband?
0:03:21 > 0:03:26I don't intend to go to him again! You shall be my husband now.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Working with the Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32working in the West End, working with the National Theatre,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35that gave her some weight and some experience
0:03:35 > 0:03:38that perhaps younger actresses now aren't going to get.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Good morning.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Is Philip in, by any chance?
0:03:45 > 0:03:46I believe he's in the bath.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Really? Alone?
0:03:48 > 0:03:50I think so.
0:03:50 > 0:03:51You're slipping.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Helen Mirren was just 24 years old
0:03:53 > 0:03:57when she starred in her first film feature, Age Of Consent.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01She is the innocent muse helping artist James Mason
0:04:01 > 0:04:03rediscover his mojo.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05She plays an innocent island girl
0:04:05 > 0:04:08who's not quite as vulnerable as she seems.
0:04:08 > 0:04:09It's the dress.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12Take it off.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Mirren has always been pretty unafraid
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to take off her clothes when the part demanded it.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24I think because there's this kind of muse-like quality about her.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30There's a scene in this film where she goes out on a boat with
0:04:30 > 0:04:33this rather sleazy local fishermen, who essentially attempts to rape
0:04:33 > 0:04:35her, comes onto her on this boat,
0:04:35 > 0:04:36knowing she can't get away.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Get off me, Teddy Farrell!
0:04:40 > 0:04:41How dare you!
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Beauty!
0:04:44 > 0:04:45Oh! Bleugh!
0:04:48 > 0:04:49Ow!
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Come on!
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Get your gear off, Cora. Ow!
0:04:55 > 0:04:59And she's chewing gum, and she spits the gum into the water
0:04:59 > 0:05:01and goes round and round him,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05as a shark might circle one of its victims.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09You crazy virgin!
0:05:15 > 0:05:19And then when he's tired and apologetic, and has got the point,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22she throws a rope out to him, and tows him back to the island.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35She's in her very early 20s when she is doing this.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38She has incredible self-assurance, even if sometimes, the part,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40as it is written, doesn't.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46It's the carefree '60s,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and there's a revolution in art, music and fashion.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53In theatre and film, boundaries are being broken.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The Body Beautiful is just one symbol of rebellion
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and innovation for the new generation.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01True lion hunts
0:06:01 > 0:06:03She plots his death
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Death for him, death for me
0:06:04 > 0:06:08The knife is sharp and I must die Since I came here with him.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12It's theatre that excites young Helen.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14There was one point I remember, very early on,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16when there was a choice,
0:06:16 > 0:06:21direct choice between doing a film with a very good part in it,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26and going back to the RSC to do, I think it was to do Troilus
0:06:26 > 0:06:28and Cressida, very, very early on in my career,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and I decided to go to the RSC to do Troilus and Cressida.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36I was so thrilled by the idea of doing Cressida.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38What I've done in the theatre will stand me
0:06:38 > 0:06:41in stead for the rest of my life.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Aged just 30, she won a Variety Club Award for stage actress
0:06:45 > 0:06:48of the year for her first West End performance.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I have some lines in The Seagull which I think are particularly
0:06:51 > 0:06:55apt to this gathering, and certainly to myself at this moment,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00which go, "I know now that what matters is not fame or glory
0:07:00 > 0:07:03"or any of those things I used to dream about,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08"but what matters most is to know how to endure." Thank you very much.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Our deaths will not be unavenged. He will come, our vengeance.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28The King is dead!
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Do you want me?
0:07:33 > 0:07:36But Helen was attracting attention in the popular press.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41In the experimental film Herostratus in 1967,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46the public were introduced to Helen the sex siren.
0:07:46 > 0:07:53In Herostratus, we see her very, very exposed,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55in an experimental film.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59I think she was just in the one scene, and she's extremely young
0:07:59 > 0:08:05and extremely buxom, and scantily clad, and it's kind of a gag,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08because she's selling something,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10it's sort of like she's selling herself, and in the end,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13it turns out that what she's selling are these rubber gloves.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17It's a kind of comment about advertising
0:08:17 > 0:08:19and how advertising uses sex to sell.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23They're absolutely leak-proof!
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Use them for all your dirty work! Yeah!
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I wonder what she thinks when she looks back on that.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34She's not in the least bit prudish,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I can't imagine that she would be ashamed of it,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39but it's quite something to look back on, I imagine.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42She's so young and beautiful,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46and there's an innocence about it, even though it's overtly sexual.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51From the early performances, she's never been afraid of being sexual
0:08:51 > 0:08:55on-screen, you know, but it's never just for the sake of it.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58She's never been a bimbo, you know, "I just want to show off my body."
0:08:58 > 0:09:02She's been someone who played tough characters,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06and their sexuality is part of that character,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09so you never feel with Helen Mirren that it's just gratuitous.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10We have a laugh about it,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13it's a bit of a joke about her performances, but it's not like
0:09:13 > 0:09:17she is, you know, some dolly bird, like Pamela Anderson, or something.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20She's doing it because these characters are really strong,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22provocative people.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Helen's involvement in a truly notorious film of the '70s
0:09:26 > 0:09:29confirmed her uninhibited image.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32She joined a respectable cast on a film about the excesses
0:09:32 > 0:09:34of the Roman emperor Caligula.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40It was always going to be edgy, but producers later hired more actors
0:09:40 > 0:09:43and added scenes of graphic sex.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46I think, with Caligula, it is porn, basically,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48and I don't think Helen Mirren would disagree with that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I don't think that's what she went into it for.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I mean, Caligula as a whole history,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56there's a whole documentary itself about what the actors thought
0:09:56 > 0:09:59it was going to be, and what the producer wanted it to be,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03so I think a movie like that was perhaps a mistake, really.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07I think it's absolutely explicable in the context of everything
0:10:07 > 0:10:11else she did in that period, and the general tenor of the times, too.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13It wasn't such a far out thing.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16There were a lot of people who thought that pornography
0:10:16 > 0:10:21of this kind would be what saves cinema, would be what was up
0:10:21 > 0:10:24on the big screen, and the taboo about it would vanish,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and it would become just a part of everybody's cinematic lives,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and Mirren has always been in the vanguard of things.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35This is why she did so much stuff in the '70s and '80s
0:10:35 > 0:10:38where she took her clothes off, where she was shameless,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40in the best sense of that word.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45The '60s and '70s had shown us two sides of Helen Mirren.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48She was an award-winning theatre actress with a love of Shakespeare
0:10:48 > 0:10:50who was equally at home in the West End,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and a fledgling cinema star,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57unafraid of bold, experimental roles.
0:10:57 > 0:10:58As a new decade dawned,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02she was a respected actress but relatively unknown on screen.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05But things were starting to change.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10The Long Good Friday paired Helen with Bob Hoskins.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13Where's Harris?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16Please tell me, love.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19It was a breakthrough film for Hoskins
0:11:19 > 0:11:22as an East End London gangster trying to go legit.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Helen Mirren plays his posh girlfriend
0:11:24 > 0:11:26dragged into a spiral of violence,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29the respectable front for his dodgy property deal.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Give me the gun!
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Now you've got Harris, right? You've got him.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Now you use him.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46You use him to stop this bloody havoc!
0:11:46 > 0:11:48And there she is.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51She's charming all of these ghastly American gangsters
0:11:51 > 0:11:54that he's brought over to invest in this property deal.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Bob Hoskins' world is being undermined,
0:12:01 > 0:12:06is being attacked by a third party who wants to spoil this deal,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10and he's killing his men, blowing up his pubs, this kind of thing.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Occupy them.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Do anything that's necessary. Just buy me some time, right?
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- Yeah. I'll take them to Justine's. - Terrific.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21- Get Razors to book a table.- Yeah.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24It was the gas!
0:12:24 > 0:12:25Gas?
0:12:25 > 0:12:29This natural gas causes dangerous leaks sometimes.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Howard wants us to go on to a restaurant
0:12:31 > 0:12:33while he's dealing with it.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36He'll join us later. Jeff, stay with Harold, will you? I'll drive.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40And Helen Mirren has to hold the fort
0:12:40 > 0:12:44in a scene in a restaurant where all of these men round
0:12:44 > 0:12:46the table know there's something fishy going on,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51but she has two maintain this front for the good of her partner,
0:12:51 > 0:12:55and there's something that she's so good at that, the presentation
0:12:55 > 0:12:59of a rather brittle barrier
0:12:59 > 0:13:01towards other characters.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05OK, Victoria. I'll give you until tomorrow.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10But just one more foul up, and we're on our way back home.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13That goes without saying.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17What's so good is that she gives you the sense of something going on
0:13:17 > 0:13:21behind the performance, something that you can't quite glimpse.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26She's very good at projecting a strength that has its limits, that
0:13:26 > 0:13:31might collapse, that might actually turn out to be rather fragile,
0:13:31 > 0:13:36and yet, what the film shows is that when things do start collapsing
0:13:36 > 0:13:39around these characters, she does have a kind of strength
0:13:39 > 0:13:42that the Bob Hoskins character doesn't have.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51And you suddenly see that this is really
0:13:51 > 0:13:53a kind of maternal relationship,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55so she IS powerful,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and yet the power really has its limits.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01It's a film of its time.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03They're fighting a new, unseen enemy,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06more dangerous than class division or the mob.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Right the end of the film, you see, the last shot you see of her
0:14:12 > 0:14:15in The Long Good Friday, is of her being kidnapped.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Hold up, where's my Tori?
0:14:18 > 0:14:21All of this front has broken down, it's all gone.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25There she is, disappearing from us and from Bob Hoskins,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27with a look of absolute terror on her face.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Terrorism is the threat overtaking the mob in Long Good Friday.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41The film had allowed Helen to play Shakespearean complexity
0:14:41 > 0:14:43in a very contemporary tragedy.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Northern Ireland, even with its troubles,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49would be an important theme in her life...
0:14:50 > 0:14:54..largely through her relationship with the actor Liam Neeson.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56They met on the set of Excalibur.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Although Helen had been gaining critical acclaim,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02she was never afraid of a fantasy role.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07But a tiny, potentially controversial Irish movie
0:15:07 > 0:15:10was about to put Helen's career into high gear.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Cal, a small budget film set amid the troubles of Northern Ireland
0:15:15 > 0:15:19had a new director and a new young star.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Its writer couldn't believe their luck
0:15:21 > 0:15:23in attracting Helen to an audition.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25We watched these three clips,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30and the first of them was John Lynch as the 19-year-old boy,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34and Helen Mirren as the more mature woman,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39and they were electric together, because here was John Lynch,
0:15:39 > 0:15:44sitting on a sofa in this little scene that they had chosen,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47sitting on a sofa beside Helen Mirren,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51who was an eminent Shakespearean actress with a wonderful
0:15:51 > 0:15:56reputation, and he had to make a pass at her and kiss her.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00We used to cry at that.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03We thought the mother should have been made the saint.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13And you could just hear the nerves in his voice,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15and for that particular scene,
0:16:15 > 0:16:20it was like the nerves just before you make a pass or try
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and kiss someone, and this stuck in his throat,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and it was just wonderful, and she responded beautifully to it.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34There was no doubt in my mind
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and in everybody else's mind as to the casting was perfect.
0:16:40 > 0:16:41No. No, Cal.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46- No, we can't.- Why not? - Oh, be sensible!
0:16:46 > 0:16:48I did it because it was a story about Northern Ireland,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and I've spent quite a lot of time in the past few years
0:16:51 > 0:16:56in Northern Ireland, and I did it because it was a wonderful script.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Is she new in there?
0:16:58 > 0:17:00That's Marcella.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02You know that police fella got shot last year?
0:17:04 > 0:17:06No luck with a mixed marriage.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09She's one of ours, you know.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Yes, I think I'm much more like Marcella, actually,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13than anything else that I'm supposed to be.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18'I think that I'm pretty introverted and quiet and serious.'
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Oh, hello.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26There's a wonderful intensity, and she just draws you into the role.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32It ceases to be a role, and that's what good acting is.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35That's the person, that's Marcella.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40That's this woman who is as trapped in her own family as the boy
0:17:40 > 0:17:44is trapped in the violent organisation, so the two of them are
0:17:44 > 0:17:48trying to change their situation, and she was just wonderful.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I had to get out of that house.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54That coughing.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58I'd have made a terrible nurse.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Oh, God help me. It would have been better if you'd died.
0:18:08 > 0:18:09Can I help?
0:18:09 > 0:18:10No.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20I'm very callous, you know. I'm only crying for myself.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25They're not my responsibility. I just want to get out of there.
0:18:26 > 0:18:32She got the accent absolutely right, and I remember, one day,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35one of the times that I was on the set,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39which was a farm in the south of Ireland,
0:18:39 > 0:18:44and I came along and she was walking along this field,
0:18:44 > 0:18:50and she was listening to a Walkman, which rather dates the story,
0:18:50 > 0:18:55but she was listening, and I said, "Hello, Helen,"
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and we had some chat, and I said, "What are you listening to?",
0:18:58 > 0:19:02thinking it might be Beethoven or Bach or something like that,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05and she said, "I'm listening to Liam Neeson saying my lines,"
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So Liam Neeson, with his Northern Ireland accent,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11was pitch perfect,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and she had recorded them, and she got them pitch perfect.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20CRASH
0:19:26 > 0:19:27What are you doing here?
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I work here!
0:19:29 > 0:19:30Get him out!
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Get him out!
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Cal is a love story set in the context
0:19:34 > 0:19:36of the terrorism in Northern Ireland,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38a subject so sensitive,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42the film had to be shot south of the border in Dublin.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Hands up there, Paddy.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Oh, but I know him.
0:19:48 > 0:19:49He says he works here, Miss.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Yes, yes, that's right. He does.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53No, it's OK. Yes, we know him.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59It's a heartbreaking story that reached international common ground,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03leading to a screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09The amazing thing was that when the film was over, the audience,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13French, or the world audience kind of stood up and applauded
0:20:13 > 0:20:17for about six minutes, and I didn't know whether this was good or not.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22I thought maybe it should be 12 minutes, but people tell me, yeah,
0:20:22 > 0:20:27this is very good, and normally, or people have been known to walk out.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28I want to tell you.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32But I can't.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Remember that.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39Remember that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Helen Mirren won the Cannes Best Actress Award for Cal in 1984.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46It was a landmark moment,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49but the standing ovation didn't change her career overnight.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53It doesn't make any difference at all in America.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56And awards don't really, they're not...
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Awards don't help you get work.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Awards make you feel good about work you've done,
0:21:00 > 0:21:05but anything in the future is always full of chance and jeopardy.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Cal had given Helen international recognition,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15but no big-screen breakthrough.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17She could still be found in low-budget films
0:21:17 > 0:21:19like Heavenly Pursuits with Tom Conti,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and the poorly-received Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford.
0:21:23 > 0:21:24She seemed happier on the stage,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and with the challenging experimental side of British cinema.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Films like the controversial
0:21:30 > 0:21:33The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Georgie's naughty bits are nicely related, aren't they, Georgie?
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Especially when she's paying me attention. Georgie?
0:21:42 > 0:21:44I think The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, her Lover
0:21:44 > 0:21:47was a big deal when it came out in the late '80s,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51because of the strength of it, the violence, the sex in it,
0:21:51 > 0:21:52but also, it was a weird mix,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55because it looked like some sort of Renaissance painting,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58it was very stately, yet at the same time, was really intense
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and tough, so it was a very odd combination
0:22:01 > 0:22:03that really worked, and a great performance from her.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Certainly, in the '80s, when she was playing
0:22:05 > 0:22:08these disgruntled wife characters, that was the most extreme.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Georgie wouldn't joke about it, would you, Georgie?
0:22:12 > 0:22:16You're a credit to women.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18You could show these young women a thing or two nowadays.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20You could teach these young men a thing or two, eh?
0:22:20 > 0:22:23She is actually much stronger than that, and wants to break away from
0:22:23 > 0:22:26that, and of course, that's what she's doing in that movie, you know.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29She can't handle being the subservient wife,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and she wants to break free and have a relationship with someone
0:22:31 > 0:22:34who really likes her, so I think the sexuality in that film
0:22:34 > 0:22:37is all tied up to this very disgruntled character.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39A character who feels suffocated.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46As well as sex scenes, the film features murder and cannibalism,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48all set in highly stylised tableaux.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56It's pure arthouse, but just as we might have thought Helen Mirren
0:22:56 > 0:22:59would stay on the fringes of mainstream screens, she was about
0:22:59 > 0:23:03to give a performance that is etched in British television history.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08PHONE RINGS
0:23:09 > 0:23:11It's 1991.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14The traditional mould of television crime dramas
0:23:14 > 0:23:15is about to be shattered.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Come in.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19Hello, Jane.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Did you get anything at Marlow's flat, ma'am?
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Just a lot of flak from his girlfriend.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Where the hell is Sgt Otley?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Oh, yeah. Records sent this in. It's about Moira Henson.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32She was picked up for soliciting 15 years ago.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34I don't know if that's any use.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36She's been on the dole for four years.
0:23:36 > 0:23:37Could be interesting.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41We've got 24 statements, and there's more waiting downstairs.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44What do you want to do?
0:23:44 > 0:23:45Er...
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Super's with Marlow's lawyer.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48You going to charge him?
0:23:49 > 0:23:53I didn't know how good it was going to be, because you never know.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57It's a script, I knew it was a good script, I knew it was a great role...
0:23:59 > 0:24:01..and I was gagging to play it.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04And formal identification of the victim is on my desk.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Her name is...
0:24:05 > 0:24:06Karen Howard. We know.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11I've got her boyfriend and her flatmates waiting upstairs.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Extension 242, please. Press office.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Right, well, I'll interview the boyfriend first, then.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24It was a stonking great part.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29It was one of the very, very rare, at that time,
0:24:29 > 0:24:35very few dramas where you truly had a woman as the centrepiece,
0:24:35 > 0:24:40you know, the proactive person in the drama.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Prime Suspect captured the attention of the nation.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48It was a gripping crime thriller.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Look, I'm not going to harp on about this,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56but I really appreciate you backing me up.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Boss...
0:24:58 > 0:25:01But it was also about a woman clawing her way into a male world.
0:25:03 > 0:25:04I think this is it.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06I think we've got him on the run.
0:25:06 > 0:25:07Thank you.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09All right, let's go for it.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Yes, she used a regular...
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Prime Suspect brought her to a mass TV audience,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17something that actually, for a long time,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20she said she'd never have anything to do with.
0:25:20 > 0:25:21In the mid-'70s, she said,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"I'd rather be a hairdresser than do a television series."
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Well, thankfully, she didn't stick to that promise,
0:25:27 > 0:25:34but I think what Prime Suspect shows is her in her maturity,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38and she's playing this character who is very problematic
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and not immediately likeable.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43In fact, not really very likeable at all, in many ways,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and I think this is absolutely the key to her acting.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Helen Mirren never wants to be liked.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52She never asks for the indulgence of the audience.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56She's always quite willing to keep quite a lot back or give
0:25:56 > 0:26:00the sense that there is some rather sharp, dark life going on
0:26:00 > 0:26:03under the surface of this character.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06They backed you 100%. Refused to have Hicock take over.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09That was on my desk when I came in.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Every single man signed it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:15Did you know about it?
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Erm...
0:26:17 > 0:26:18No, no, I didn't.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Things have taken quite a turn, haven't they?
0:26:28 > 0:26:29You were lucky.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Luck had nothing to do with it.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35The lads worked really hard.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Bring me all the new information as soon as possible.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Of course, sir.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Helen's portrayal of DCI Jane Tennison was no invention.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50She based the character on real women police officers.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Don't cry. Never cry.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56If you're going to cry, go in the lavatory
0:26:56 > 0:26:57and cry out of sight of people.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02She said, "You will cry," you know, if you were actually a policeman,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05you do cry, but you never cry in front of people.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11Prime Suspect was one of the first of those tough character studies
0:27:11 > 0:27:14of someone in the police.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17We went on to have things like Cracker and endless police dramas,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21we still have loads of them, where the main character has flaws,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24where the main character has issues,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26and we are as interested in them as a character
0:27:26 > 0:27:28as we are in trying to solve the crime.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32It's not just about trying to find out whodunnit,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35there's also a psychological element to it, as well.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37He's got the key in the lock.
0:27:38 > 0:27:39He's opening up.
0:27:41 > 0:27:42He's in.
0:27:42 > 0:27:43Go! Go!
0:27:43 > 0:27:45And the fact that she was a woman doing that
0:27:45 > 0:27:47was incredibly groundbreaking.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50There just hadn't been that kind of study before of that
0:27:50 > 0:27:53kind of a character, and of course, it wasn't just over and done with
0:27:53 > 0:27:56in one episode. This was a series, where each episode, you learnt more
0:27:56 > 0:27:59and more about her, so I think the intensity of it was something
0:27:59 > 0:28:01that was really new at the time.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04I agree to a ten minute break.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07You will not be allowed to make any telephone calls or see your wife
0:28:07 > 0:28:09until this interview is terminated.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11I will arrange for Miss Henson to call your mother.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14No, they don't get on! I don't want Moira talking to my mother!
0:28:33 > 0:28:35This is a mess, isn't it?
0:28:41 > 0:28:42All right.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46I did it.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Suddenly, Helen Mirren was a household name.
0:28:49 > 0:28:50Oh, good morning, ma'am.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Is Superintendent Thorndyke in?
0:28:52 > 0:28:54He left about an hour ago, ma'am.
0:28:54 > 0:28:55I've put the case files on your desk.
0:28:57 > 0:28:58Will there be anything else?
0:28:58 > 0:28:59No, that's all, thanks.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02A second series followed.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Then another. And another.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07By series four, Jane Tennison had been promoted
0:29:07 > 0:29:09to Detective Superintendent.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10Now the struggle for authority
0:29:10 > 0:29:13in the male-dominated police force was behind her.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18This time she faced an inner tension as a woman with maternal instincts
0:29:18 > 0:29:20leading the search for a lost child.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33So she's got an amazing ability to be at once totally inside
0:29:33 > 0:29:38what she's doing, and also be able to stand outside it.
0:29:38 > 0:29:39If it turns into a murder investigation,
0:29:39 > 0:29:41I can let you have another six men.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43And what are they supposed to be? Pallbearers?
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Jane, you know as well as I do, this kid is probably dead already.
0:29:47 > 0:29:48No, no, I do not know that.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52I need more detectives, Mike.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I need more uniforms. Vicky needs them.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56I'm sorry.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Jesus, Mike.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01You can't spare six officers to save a child's life,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04but you can spare them to find her killer.
0:30:04 > 0:30:05Go home, get some sleep.
0:30:05 > 0:30:12There's something of a warrior about her, and Jane Tennison is somebody
0:30:12 > 0:30:18who pursues what she believes, in spite of enormous personal cost,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22which is what makes the character so incredibly compelling.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35She'd come in exhausted one morning, and said,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37"I haven't a clue about what to do in this scene.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39"Just tell me and I'll do it."
0:30:39 > 0:30:42And it was some incredibly emotional circumstance,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44and she simply snapped to and did it.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54I'm sorry.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56I'm sorry.
0:30:56 > 0:30:57Sssh.
0:30:57 > 0:30:58- I'm sorry.- Sssh.
0:31:00 > 0:31:01I'm sorry.
0:31:05 > 0:31:06I'm sorry.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17Prime Suspect was the perfect combination of character and plot.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20People spoke about in the streets
0:31:20 > 0:31:23and planned their evenings to catch each episode.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27And, unlike previous British police dramas,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29it taught the Americans a thing or two.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35American television has a tendency to see something it likes abroad,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37buy the template and bring it over.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40It was interesting with Prime Suspect, where they did, in fact,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44make their own American Prime Suspect, with Maria Bellow,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47was very, very good, but they also brought over the original,
0:31:47 > 0:31:53and I think that that speaks volumes to the attraction of Helen Mirren.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55I think, with somebody else in the leading role,
0:31:55 > 0:31:56they may not have done that.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02In 1996, Helen took time out.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05It was 2003 before she was persuaded back.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09She made two final outings to see the end of Tennison's career.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15In The Final Act in 2006, time, the job,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19and the illness of her father have pushed her close to the edge.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23She's to be retired after one last investigation.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31Sometimes she is associated with being very glamorous, but she's more
0:32:31 > 0:32:36than prepared to look unglamorous, especially as Tennison, you know.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40She would sink to a lot of low levels with the character's drinking
0:32:40 > 0:32:46problems, and Helen never had a problem about just appearing
0:32:46 > 0:32:51with no make-up or looking slightly rough, very rough, at times.
0:32:51 > 0:32:52Vanessa. Vanessa Flint.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54She tried to look after Curtis when the mother died.
0:32:54 > 0:32:55What number is it?
0:32:55 > 0:32:56I'm sorry...
0:32:58 > 0:32:59I'll need to speak to Penny later, OK?
0:32:59 > 0:33:01His sister's there.
0:33:01 > 0:33:02Hmmm?
0:33:02 > 0:33:04A little girl.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08For a new intake of actors, joining the legend that Prime Suspect
0:33:08 > 0:33:12had become was both daunting and a special opportunity.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15You know, when the phone call came through to my agent,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19would I be interested in playing a part, they didn't tell me
0:33:19 > 0:33:23what the part was like, in the last ever Prime Suspect, I just said yes.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27They said, "Don't you want to know what the part's about?" "No."
0:33:27 > 0:33:28Can I say something?
0:33:35 > 0:33:36I did it.
0:33:39 > 0:33:40Sally.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45It's just the chance to work with one of the best
0:33:45 > 0:33:48actors that the country has ever produced.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51So your only alibi for that night is Penny?
0:33:51 > 0:33:53I don't want Penny dragged into this...
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Sean, Sean. Penny has already been dragged into it.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59She's been questioned, her bedroom has been searched,
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and yet you cling onto her statement.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05Penny's trying to do the right thing.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Well, of course she is, she's only a child, isn't she?
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I mean, how old is she? Oh, she's the same age as little Sally.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13For Helen, it was a personal journey,
0:34:13 > 0:34:17and the coming to an end of a character that she created,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21so I think everyone was duly reverential to her,
0:34:21 > 0:34:26but she's an amazing character on set.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28She certainly leads from the front.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Let Penny free of this.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33No!
0:34:39 > 0:34:41I've let everyone down.
0:34:41 > 0:34:42The whole school, everyone.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48But I didn't kill Sally.
0:34:51 > 0:34:52I couldn't.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00It's probably the role that she'll be most remembered for,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04especially from a British television watching audience,
0:35:04 > 0:35:09because it ran for so many years,
0:35:09 > 0:35:15and the attitudes to a female officer differed over the years,
0:35:15 > 0:35:21and I think she was probably responsible for that, as well,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25in highlighting the difficulties for women,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28in the way that she and her character
0:35:28 > 0:35:31walked away from it at the end.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34It was a beautiful shot, and I was thrilled to have been a part of it.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47For 15 years, Helen Mirren's name
0:35:47 > 0:35:50had been synonymous with Jane Tennison and Prime Suspect.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53But she had worried about being typecast,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and continued to appear in a string of stage and film productions,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59including Emmy-winning The Passion Of Ayn Rand
0:35:59 > 0:36:02and Last Orders with Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10In Gosford Park, she disappears into an ensemble cast as the housekeeper,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13albeit with Jane Tennison's steely authority.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16She has Tennison's sense of justice,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19but this time she's the quiet killer who gets away with it.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21Just leave everything round the corner, there,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23make sure it's properly labelled. It'll go up in the luggage lift.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25These are the guns. Where's the gun room?
0:36:25 > 0:36:28On the right. You'll find Mr Strutt, the keeper, in there.
0:36:28 > 0:36:29He'll show you what to do.
0:36:29 > 0:36:30I know what to do.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33That seemed to me to be a classic Mirren performance,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36because there is this kind of hardness about it.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40She's in this relatively authoritative position
0:36:40 > 0:36:42below stairs in this great household.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I can't tell Mrs Croft. I simply don't dare.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Oh, everything is under control, Your Ladyship.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Mr Weissman's valet informed us as soon as he arrived,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51so we've prepared a special version of the soup.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53He can eat the fish and the hors d'oeuvres.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55And we'll have a Welsh rabbit for the game course.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57I don't know what we'll do about the entree,
0:36:57 > 0:36:58but we'll think of something.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03But she somehow wears the stresses and strains of all of this.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07She's not one of those actors who's sort of impervious to things.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10You can see that life has had an effect upon her.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Now, now, Mrs Croft, we don't want to be thought unsophisticated,
0:37:13 > 0:37:14do we?
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Mr Weissman's an American. They do things differently there.
0:37:17 > 0:37:18She'll never play an innocent.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22She'll always play people to whom a lot of things have happened,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and who have done a lot of things, too,
0:37:24 > 0:37:26so she brings the weight of all that
0:37:26 > 0:37:27to everything she does.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I'm afraid smoking isn't allowed up here.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46Well, I hope you're finding everything
0:37:46 > 0:37:48to make His Lordship's stay more comfortable.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50I hope we haven't forgotten anything.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53I can't believe you forget much, Mrs Wilson.
0:37:55 > 0:37:56No, not much.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Well, I'll leave you to your book.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02What was interesting about Gosford Park, I think,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05in terms of Helen Mirren, was that she played a servant in that film.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08The movie was about the differences between the servants
0:38:08 > 0:38:09and the aristocracy,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12so in the aristocracy you had Kristin Scott Thomas,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15you had Maggie Smith, very respected actresses of a similar ilk to
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Helen Mirren, but she didn't play one of the posh people.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22She played one of the servants, and I think that kind of sums her up.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Of course, she'd go on to play the most famous
0:38:24 > 0:38:28aristocrat in the world, the Queen, but I think at that point,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32even though she had a great career behind her, very respected,
0:38:32 > 0:38:38she was still a bit too dangerous to be playing the posh aristocrat.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40She had to be the working-class person,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42the person who had a bit more of an edge to her.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44What are you doing?
0:38:44 > 0:38:45Dorothy, get back to work.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Excuse me, but Dorothy's under my jurisdiction as well, you know.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52And I say she can listen to a spot of music if she likes.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Gosford Park caught the imagination of audiences around the world,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01who marvelled at its portrayal of honour in the British class system.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03You know, Maggie Smith, you can't imagine playing a maid.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07She will always be the grand dame, but I think Helen has this
0:39:07 > 0:39:13rebellious streak to her that just wouldn't fit the posh older lady.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15She needed to be a bit more edgy.
0:39:15 > 0:39:16Why did you do it?
0:39:24 > 0:39:25How did you know it was him?
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Was it the name, or did you see the photograph in his room?
0:39:30 > 0:39:31Ah, yes, the photograph.
0:39:33 > 0:39:34It's a miracle that survived.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37I remember his mother putting it into his blanket.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39I suppose she wanted him to have something of hers.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Does he know what happened to her?
0:39:43 > 0:39:46They said she died just after he was born.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Well, she didn't die. She gave him away.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56He promised the boy would be adopted. He said he knew the family.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Turns out we all clung to that dream.
0:39:59 > 0:40:00All us girls.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Better start in life for our children.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06All the time, he was dumping them,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08his own children, in some godforsaken place.
0:40:10 > 0:40:11And I believed him.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16In 2003, Hollywood producers were again fascinated
0:40:16 > 0:40:18by the peculiarities of English life.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23They had found the true story of a prim and proper Women's Institute
0:40:23 > 0:40:26who produced their own nude calendar for charity.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Helen was a natural choice as ringleader.
0:40:31 > 0:40:32Ted, would you mind if I borrowed this?
0:40:34 > 0:40:35Aye.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Helen Mirren in the WI? You can't imagine that, so she played
0:40:38 > 0:40:43the WI character who actually took the mick out of being in the WI.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47The others were traditional types, but she was the one who was the real rebel.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50And it's for John, and it's because of John, and no matter what
0:40:50 > 0:40:52might think of the idea, Marie,
0:40:52 > 0:40:54you're looking at January.
0:40:57 > 0:40:58February.
0:41:00 > 0:41:01March.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08BOTH: April!
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Calendar Girls grossed 96 million.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Helen Mirren earned a Golden Globe Award as best actress,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and there was a thumbs up from the real women they portrayed.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Never for one moment did I think,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27"Oh, I don't like that, that's not right." All of it was just perfect.
0:41:27 > 0:41:28Brilliant.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Off...
0:41:30 > 0:41:31Off...
0:41:31 > 0:41:32Off...
0:41:32 > 0:41:33Off...
0:41:33 > 0:41:34Off...
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Off...!
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Helen was a national treasure.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51In 2003, she was elevated to the lofty office of
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Dame Commander of the British Empire,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57as near a crown as is allowed in the acting profession.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00She already had a track record in playing historic royalty.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03From Cleopatra to Queen Charlotte in The Madness Of King George,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07and Elizabeth I in a spectacular Channel 4 series.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Now, in 2006, it was time to have a go
0:42:10 > 0:42:13at the current incumbent on the throne.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17It's the Princess of Wales.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19Why? What's she done now?
0:42:19 > 0:42:22She had shown that she could do things that were a little bit
0:42:22 > 0:42:25more sedate, I suppose, with Gosford Park,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28and got an Oscar nomination for that,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32but with The Queen, I mean, she was playing the most traditional person
0:42:32 > 0:42:34in the country, and that was a big deal.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36They could have gone for someone safer.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39It was a risk, I think, casting Helen Mirren, because we associated
0:42:39 > 0:42:42her with being sexy and a bit rebellious and a bit tough,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45but actually, bringing those qualities to the character
0:42:45 > 0:42:48of the Queen was really interesting,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51and we saw her as someone who was much tougher, I think,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53than we ever had imagined before.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Playing living characters placed extra demands on the cast.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01They needed to be actors, and mimics, with realistic
0:43:01 > 0:43:04impersonations of the well-known royal mannerisms.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Well, I remember when she was about to do The Queen, I remember
0:43:08 > 0:43:14seeing her interviewed, and in her very particular way,
0:43:14 > 0:43:20she was talking very seriously about how the Queen has a very
0:43:20 > 0:43:27particular focus, and a very particular way of being.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29And I remember thinking, "Oh, come on, love, you know.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32"Put on the wig and the funny glasses and you're there."
0:43:34 > 0:43:37Charles and I had a talk in the car today.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43He was good enough to share with me his thoughts on motherhood.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45What did he say?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47How wonderful Diana was.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50She didn't go over the top with the impression.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52There was an element of impersonation to it,
0:43:52 > 0:43:57but she resisted temptation to really ham one up.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02And she played it so sensitively.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Even when she's saying nothing, she still embodies
0:44:06 > 0:44:09the characterisation of the Queen, and it is so wonderful to see.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12She's so in it, and there's just this silence
0:44:12 > 0:44:15and this stillness, but there's a close-up on her face, and
0:44:15 > 0:44:20you can see all of her thoughts, you can see it all going on in there.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32When you're playing a sustained role in a drama,
0:44:32 > 0:44:37you have to do a lot more than just look at those outward signifiers.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42You have to try and imagine how that character feels from the inside,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44and that's what she did. She humanised the Queen.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51I see Mr Fayed was buried last night.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54At midnight. No fuss, no cameras.
0:44:57 > 0:44:58Very dignified.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03Why do they do that? Why do they bury the body so soon after death?
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Islamic tradition.
0:45:06 > 0:45:07Something to do with the heat.
0:45:07 > 0:45:08Mmm.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12You become something. You don't think about acting.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15I was the Queen Mother, and that was my daughter.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18He wanted to know whether we should make any changes in the service,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20any special mention of Diana.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22What did you say?
0:45:22 > 0:45:24I told him not to change a thing.
0:45:24 > 0:45:25Quite right.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29I think the less attention one draws to it, the better, for the boys.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33With some people, and Helen is one of them,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35you get that feeling very quickly,
0:45:35 > 0:45:39so we might be joking in the make-up room,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43but once we were together, you felt,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47just from the look in the eyes, that there was something very real there.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Thank you, Robin. I'll take it in the study.
0:45:51 > 0:45:52It's the story behind the headlines
0:45:52 > 0:45:55after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59The Royal family is in shock, and struggles to find comfort
0:45:59 > 0:46:02in the traditions of the throne, when everything is changing.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03Prime Minister?
0:46:03 > 0:46:05May I say, right away, how very sorry I am,
0:46:07 > 0:46:08and the thoughts and prayers of my family
0:46:08 > 0:46:11are with you at this terrible time.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13And with the princes, in particular.
0:46:13 > 0:46:14Thank you.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19Is it your intention to make some kind of appearance?
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Or statement?
0:46:21 > 0:46:23No, no, certainly not.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28No member of the Royal family will speak publicly about this.
0:46:28 > 0:46:29This is private...
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Maybe it's when the Americans really noticed Helen.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37She'd been a huge success on television over here, we know,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40with Prime Suspect.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42But maybe that was...
0:46:42 > 0:46:44Anyway, it's a remarkable performance.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46It's a very detailed performance,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48and above all,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51you never think for a second somebody is acting.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Would you like me to place those for you?
0:46:54 > 0:46:55No.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56Oh.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59These are for you.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02For me?
0:47:07 > 0:47:08Thank you.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11Thank you very much.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14That's a performance of tremendous integrity.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18The Queen is the thing that, because it wins her the Oscar,
0:47:18 > 0:47:23it really makes her in that kind of stratospheric level of stardom,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25where she can more or less do what she wants.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32I'm very glad that Helen won the Oscar for The Queen.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37To start with, she wasn't playing a young girl.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39She kept her clothes on all the time.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45She didn't rant or scream.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49She played a serious part and convinced people.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54And since then, she's gone from one part to another,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56all slightly different.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00The Queen also won Helen the ultimate British accolade.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02With two huge screen personas,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05she started to have the mickey taken out of her on TV.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not just thrilled,
0:48:09 > 0:48:14I'm genuinely thrilled to be graced with this Oscar.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16I don't think it's an exaggeration
0:48:16 > 0:48:21to say that I prepared for this role for more than 400 years.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24"Particular" is a very Helen Mirren word.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29Her particular focus, her particular quality
0:48:29 > 0:48:35is a combination of power and vulnerability.
0:48:35 > 0:48:42I struggled endlessly to capture the Queen's very particular focus.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46And I think there are a lot of actresses who can play vulnerable,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51and a lot of actresses who can play powerful, but I think
0:48:51 > 0:48:57what Dame Helen has is the ability to show them both coexisting.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00Good evening.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05One can't have failed to notice the hoopla surrounding
0:49:05 > 0:49:09Dame Helen Mirren's Oscar-nominated performance in the film Me.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Well, Mirren, if you're going to have a piece of my turf,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16then I'm damn well going to have a piece of yours.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22So, what have we got?
0:49:22 > 0:49:24Ma'am, her name's Sally Richards, 19-year-old.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28The body was discovered by a jogger out for an early morning run.
0:49:28 > 0:49:29One better talk to the parents.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34We really appreciate you doing this.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Nonsense. It's no trouble at all.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40I now declare this murder investigation officially open.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47The Hollywood hotline has been busy in recent years
0:49:47 > 0:49:50with offers of big films with big names.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52National Treasure, with Nicolas Cage.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55Red with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57But Helen has kept an eye for the controversial,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00playing a brothel madam in Love Ranch.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Then there was the high concept,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05playing Prospera in a film of The Tempest, normally a male role.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10From Hollywood frolics to Shakespeare,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and by way of cultural contrast, a touch of Russian melodrama.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Helen plays Tolstoy's wife in The Last Station.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21It was a role she took to with passion. She's half Russian.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Oh, please, call me Sofya Andreyevna.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27We don't stand on formality here, as you may have noticed.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30Helen's real name is Mironov.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Her Russian father married an Englishwoman.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Her grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39was in the Tsarist Army and later became a diplomat,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42becoming stranded in Britain during the Russian Revolution.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Interesting, you know, whether her Russian heritage
0:50:51 > 0:50:53affected her choice.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56It was a very, very good part,
0:50:56 > 0:50:59you know, the put-upon wife,
0:50:59 > 0:51:03who was also a bit of a piece of work, you know.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Knowing all the time full well that Count Generosity here
0:51:06 > 0:51:08is about to give away everything we own.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Now why do you keep going on about this?
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Why do you think that we should profit from the work I'm doing now,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17which is only meant for the sake of the people?
0:51:19 > 0:51:20Stop writing!
0:51:20 > 0:51:24Stop writing now!
0:51:24 > 0:51:27I'll tell you what's interesting about Helen,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31and this is just my thought, is that she's a man's girl.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36She doesn't like hanging with the girls too much, I don't think.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38She gets on fine with them,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41but I think she's happier in male company.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Which gives her a distinctive type of femininity, I think.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48Then go! Go wherever you please!
0:51:48 > 0:51:50Go anywhere you please!
0:51:52 > 0:51:53I hate you!
0:51:55 > 0:51:57I hate what you've become!
0:52:00 > 0:52:02Dusan!
0:52:05 > 0:52:10And I play Tolstoy's doctor, so I had to try and revive her,
0:52:10 > 0:52:14and of course, in so doing, I was holding her by the waist,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17you know, and Helen was writhing around.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22I thought, "God, you are one sexy woman!"
0:52:22 > 0:52:23Oh, my back!
0:52:24 > 0:52:26You're lying on a fork.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Sit up and you'll improve markedly.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Helen Mirren has been creating headlines for more than 40 years.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39She's won a stack of awards,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42and appeared in everything from Shakespeare to the risque,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44from historical drama to action thriller.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48She's never afraid to take on something different,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50even when that involves a downright unglamorous
0:52:50 > 0:52:53savage physical tussle, as she does in The Debt.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00And there was no question of making The Debt at all
0:53:00 > 0:53:03if Helen couldn't do it, in my mind.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06I mean, there was just no point in starting the film.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09She was the reason the film got made,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12and the reason we made the film, if you see what I mean,
0:53:12 > 0:53:15because I couldn't think of any other actor
0:53:15 > 0:53:18who could embody that tension
0:53:18 > 0:53:23in such a fierce and visceral way.
0:53:28 > 0:53:29Did you know he'd been ill?
0:53:30 > 0:53:33You did, didn't you? You knew he'd been ill!
0:53:33 > 0:53:36There aren't many actresses who could convey
0:53:36 > 0:53:39that in the way that she is able to do.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43I mean, famously, she has this raw power and strength.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48She has a kind of ferocity as an actress, but to me,
0:53:48 > 0:53:53it's this quality she has of being able to make the interior manifest
0:53:53 > 0:53:55is what's so amazing about her,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57and she does this through
0:53:57 > 0:53:59an amazing mastery of technique.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Helen is hunting the Surgeon of Birkenau,
0:54:10 > 0:54:12a fugitive Nazi war criminal.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17The public thinks she assassinated some 30 years ago, but he survived.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Now he's been tracked down by a newspaper,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23and she's faced with silencing the old man once and for all.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48You know, she's completely relaxed about what she's doing now.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50She doesn't come into the room with any tension,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54she's cracking jokes before the camera turns over,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56and then when the camera turns over,
0:54:56 > 0:55:01there's suddenly this incredible kind of tension evident.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Why did you come?
0:55:19 > 0:55:20Why did you have to come?
0:55:26 > 0:55:27I said Schevchuk.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32I know I shouldn't have talked to him.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34The challenge of that sequence is that it was
0:55:34 > 0:55:36a fight between two very old people.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39I say very old, Helen's character is in her 60s,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43and her adversary a little older than that,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and so the challenge was actually
0:55:46 > 0:55:49to render a fight that was believable,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53so that any expenditure of effort was almost inevitably
0:55:53 > 0:55:56succeeded by somebody sitting down to get their breath back.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04She was absolutely unperturbed by that.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07She wanted the character to look the age that she is.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21It's not exactly a heroic fight,
0:56:21 > 0:56:27but an immensely galling and visceral fight.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37Dame Helen is a Hollywood star,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39but she's not above a season on the stage,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43taking a live portrayal of The Queen to London's West End.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Her performances bring new insights
0:56:45 > 0:56:47to real historical characters,
0:56:47 > 0:56:51like Alma, Alfred Hitchcock's wife.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53Actually, I think it's a huge mistake.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58You shouldn't wait till halfway through.
0:56:58 > 0:56:59Kill her off after 30 minutes.
0:57:02 > 0:57:03Wow.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08Dame Helen continues to surprise and shock, even in her mature years.
0:57:08 > 0:57:14Strong, sexy, ageless, powerful.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19From a young age to the age she is now, she's never had a period
0:57:19 > 0:57:23where she hasn't excelled at whatever role she's attempted.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25Luck had nothing to do with it.
0:57:26 > 0:57:32She is an incredibly fit actor, you know, in all senses of that word.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35She is, you know, physically, has incredible stamina
0:57:35 > 0:57:39and incredible strength, so there's absolutely no question that
0:57:39 > 0:57:44she'll go on, you know taking on very, very challenging roles.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46A fearless rebel from the '60s, she is as likely
0:57:46 > 0:57:51to surprise and shock audiences even now, in her mature years.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54I think she's one of the greatest actors that we have,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57but she's not one of those people who is going to be somehow
0:57:57 > 0:58:01slightly ossified by the fact that she's been given these honours.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04For someone who is a Dame, for someone who is so accepted,
0:58:04 > 0:58:09who is so part of the furniture, really, everybody knows her,
0:58:09 > 0:58:14I think to still be a bit of a rebel and to still surprise us
0:58:14 > 0:58:15is really exciting.
0:58:15 > 0:58:16Stop writing!
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Stop writing now!
0:58:21 > 0:58:26I'm longing to see her when she plays old ladies like me.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media