You'll find no shortage of content about the Royal Family on the big and small screen, but it's always special when Dame Judi Dench takes the crown for herself. She's back as the Queen in Stephen Frears' Victoria and Abdul, which tells the true story of an unlikely friendship that sparked outrage among her court.
Based on the novel by Shrabani Basu and adapted by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall, the film chronicles the friendship between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), a young man from India who arrived for the Golden Jubilee and would stay to serve as her clerk, becoming a close friend against the wishes of her family and retainers.
Also starring Eddie Izzard, Olivia Williams, Adeel Akhtar, the late Tim Pigott-Smith, Michael Gambon, and Simon Callow, Victoria and Abdul opens September 22nd.
