Mistress of Hardwick

1 9 7 2 (UK)
10 x 25 minute episodes

Subtitled “Scenes from an Elizabethan Life”, this BBC series – written by Alison Plowden – related the story of Elizabeth (Hilary Mason), known as Bess of Hardwick, a notable and influential figure in Elizabethan English society.

Thanks to a series of well-made marriages, Bess rose to the highest levels of English nobility and became enormously wealthy. She was also a shrewd businesswoman, increasing her assets with business interests, including mines and glass-making workshops.

Location filming took place at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

The series won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Educational Television Series.

Bess
Hilary Mason
Narrator
Gary Watson
Arbella
Anna Cropper
Earl of Shrewsbury
Preston Lockwood
Priest 
Peter Gale
Mary Queen of Scots
Gilly McIver
Sir Henry Brounker
John Humphry
Sir William Cavendish
Barrie Cookson
Chaplain 
David Ashford
Lutenist
Michael Jessett
Henry Cavendish
Cyril Varley
Elizabeth Cavendish
Clover Roope
Charles Stuart
Graeme Edler
Dorothy Stafford
Elizabeth Benson
Dodderidge
Eric Francis
Eleanor Britton
Sheila Dunn
Robert Barlow
Robert Barry

Episodes

They Expect a New Queen | Honest Sweet Chatsworth | Dangerous Alliance | My Jewel Arbella | The Shrewsbury Scandal | An Insatiable Dream | Cousin to King James | This Costly Countess | Royal Prisoner | When Hardwick Towers Shall Bow Their Heads