| The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth's life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister's terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex. |
| Name | Character | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Hardy | Robert Dudley | 4 |
| Ian Hart | William Cecil - Lord Burghley | 4 |
| Ralph Ineson | Dr. William Cowes | 4 |
| Sienna Guillory | Lettice Knollys | 4 |
| Joanne Whalley | Queen Mary | 4 |
| Kevin McKidd | Duke of Norfolk | 4 |
| Emilia Fox | Amy Dudley | 4 |
| Tara Fitzgerald | Kat Ashley | 4 |
| Ulrich Thomsen | Baron | 4 |
| Jason Watkins | Christopher Hatton | 4 |
| Anne-Marie Duff | Queen Elizabeth I | 4 |
| Ewen Bremner | Sir James Melville | 4 |
| Shaun Evans | Earl of Southampton | 4 |
| Tony Maudsley | Captain Morgan | 4 |
| Stephen Walters | Gilbert Gifford | 4 |
| Robert Pugh | Lord Chancellor Gardiner | 4 |
| Dexter Fletcher | Sir Thomas Radcliffe - Earl of Sussex | 4 |
| Ben Daniels | Francis Walsingham | 4 |
| Tom Chambers | Sir Thomas Gorges | 4 |
| Enzo Cilenti | Jean de Simier | 4 |
| Neil Stuke | Francis Bacon | 4 |
| Hans Matheson | Robert Devereux - Earl of Essex | 4 |
| Derek Riddell | Sir Walter Raleigh | 4 |
| Vincent Franklin | Thomas Phelippes | 4 |
| Sebastian Armesto | Charles Blount | 4 |
| Emma Kennedy | Ellen | 4 |
| Richard Syms | Courtier | 4 |
| Gavin Brocker | Young Man | 4 |