Rewriting HISTORY!

EMILY BADER on a swashbuckling satire reimagining the life of England's 'Nine Days' Queen'

- SEAN MARLAND

MY LADY JANE

FROM THURSDAY 27 JUNE, PRIME VIDEO COMEDY DRAMA

Rising American star Emily Bader sweeps into a room wearing a spectacular golden dress accessorised perfectly with a jewel-encrusted crown, before taking a seat while a member of the costume department arranges her gown carefully.

‘Some of my outfits are wonderful,’ she smiles, as TV Times joins her on a December day in 2022 at a west London sound stage to watch filming for lavish new Tudor adventure My Lady Jane. ‘I have a ruff that was actually used in Shakespeare in Love. When I realised how old it was, I started to take a bit more care!’

But while the satirical fantasy saga might be set in the same century as the Oscar-winning 1999 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, its approach couldn’t be more different…

Based on the bestselling 2016 novel of the same name by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows, the eight-part series imagines a version of history where Lady Jane Grey, who was a teenager when she ruled England for just nine days in 1553, wasn’t beheaded to make way for Henry VIII’s eldest daughter Mary I to ascend the throne.

Instead, plucky Jane is shocked to be embroiled in a swirl of dangerous court factions in her role as monarch, all while embarking on a mission to save a group of people, known as Ethians, who can magically transform themselves into animals, from her political rivals.

Here, Emily tells us more…

Lady Jane Grey is often viewed as one of history’s most tragic heroines. What’s your version of her like?