The Queen’s Sister (Channel 4 Drama, Lucy Cohu, Toby Stephens)

Princess Margaret was the original wild-child of the modern British monarchy, a Royal characterised by glamour, controversy and heartbreak. Britain’s first celebrity Princess, she careered from role model and fashion icon to the shamed relative who stayed too long at the party.

The Queen’s Sister puts Margaret’s colourful, complicated and controversial character under the microscope, revealing an astonishing life. This feature-length single drama charts her much-publicised and prohibited love affair in the 1950s, her rebellious bohemian times in the swinging 60s, and concludes with the private isolation of a woman dismissed by her peers.

Writer Craig Warner captures the intimate details of Margaret’s private inner world and charts her troubled life and many loves with biting humour and pathos. It’s the story of a life lived in the glare of the press and paparazzi; of a woman trying to dispense with the formalities of her privilege who would nevertheless crush anyone who didn’t treat her with the deference she thought she deserved. Lucy Cohu recreates the princess’s life over three decades with Toby Stephens as Anthony Armstrong-Jones and David Threlfall as Prince Philip.

Cast: Lucy Cohu (Princess Margaret), Meredith MacNeill (Sharman Douglas), Alex Barclay (Billy Wallace), Edward Tudor-Pole (Cecil Beaton), James Wallace (Sunny Blandford), Aden Gillett (Peter Townsend), Douglas Reith (Horace Featherstonehaugh), Felicity Montagu (Gillian Fleming), Peggy Batchelor (Mile End Flat Woman), Peter Gordon (Mile End Flat Man), David Threlfall (Prince Phillip), Michael Elwyn (Archbishop Fisher), Bruno Ouvrard (French Newsagent), Robert Fitch (Piers Waldron), Jonathan Hansler (Colin Tennant), Caroline Loncq (Anne Tennant), Toby Stephens (Tony Armstrong-Jones), Roy North (Mr Zales), Christopher Green (Danny La Rue), Dennis Banks (Fishmonger), Steve Bradford (Lad In Bar), Ken Drury (Willie Hamilton MP), Julian Curry (Lord John Hope), Tim Preece (Ranulph Bacon), Benjamin Whitrow (Cronin), Robert Portal (Anthony Barton), Elka De Wit (Eva Darton), Fleur Klijnsna (Jackie Rufus-Isaacs), Jason Thorpe (Ronald Kiddo), Caroline Harker (Rachel Burke), George Potts (Curly Burke), Gary Fairhall (Mr Simpson), Dominic Mafham (Robin Douglas-Home), Simon Woods (Roddy Llewellyn), Meg Faragher (Pru), Tom Fisher (Greg)

Writer: Craig Warner / Music: John Altman / Script Editor: Clare Alan / Executive Producer: Rob Pursey / Producer: Kath Mattock / Director: Simon Cellan Jones

UK / Channel 4 – Touchpaper Television / 1×105 minute episode / Broadcast 27 November 2005