No. 1
The Queen 2006
No. 1: set the week after Diana's death, the queen torn between public duty and private grief.
The Big Picture · Rankings · Interview
Stephen Frears and the Inner Workings of the Royal Family | The Big Picture (Ep. 27)
September 29, 2017/ 27 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Amanda Dobbins ranks the best movies about royalty, then Stephen Frears talks Victoria and Abdul and insists the monarchy itself doesn't interest him.
15 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Amanda's Royals-on-Film RankingShakespeare adaptations excluded on principle
No. 2
The Lion in Winter 1968
Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn going at each other like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in crowns.
No. 4
The Madness of King George 1994
Nigel Hawthorne, from Alan Bennett's play, played as comedy instead of tragedy.
In conversation
Stephen Frears on
Victoria & Abdul 2017
His new film, on Victoria's friendship with an Indian Muslim clerk.
Stephen Frears on
The Queen 2006
Written by Peter Morgan; the imagined weekly conversations with Tony Blair.
Stephen Frears on
My Beautiful Laundrette 1985
Frears on the racial politics running through it and Victoria and Abdul both.
Stephen Frears on
Dangerous Liaisons 1988
Stephen Frears on
High Fidelity 2000
Stephen Frears on
The Grifters 1990
Stephen Frears on
Philomena 2013
Frears recalls telling the producers to slow down when they wanted to rush it.
Stephen Frears on
Manchester by the Sea 2016
Frears: he liked it, but "didn't understand" La La Land.
Stephen Frears on
La La Land 2016
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The CrownThe Deal
Stage The Audience
Ads Black on the AirThe Watch