Edward the Seventh

Edward the Seventh
Also known asEdward the King
The Royal Victorians
GenreHistorical Drama
Written by
Directed byJohn Gorrie
Starring
Theme music composerCyril Ornadel
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languages
  • English
  • German
  • French
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
Producers
  • Cecil Clarke
  • Lorna Mason
CinematographyTony Imi
Running time50 minutes
Production companyATV
Original release
NetworkITV
Release1 April (1975-04-01) –
1 July 1975 (1975-07-01)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Edward the Seventh is a 1975 British historical drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes.

Based on the biography of King Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it stars Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria, Timothy West as the elder Edward VII, with Simon Gipps-Kent and Charles Sturridge as Edward during his youth. Helen Ryan and Deborah Grant featured as the elder and younger Queen Alexandra respectively. It was directed by John Gorrie, who wrote episodes 7–10 with David Butler writing the remainder of the series.

Only the final three episodes dramatised Edward as King (in line with his short, nine-year reign, which did not begin until he was nearly sixty years old). Annette Crosbie, who won a BAFTA for her performance, was given top billing in the series (appearing in ten out of the thirteen episodes).

It was first broadcast on TV between April and July 1975. In the United States it was shown under the title Edward the King, with episode introductions by Canadian-American broadcaster Robert MacNeil. In the UK, it is available as a four-disc DVD set, encoded for Region 0, by Network Video. It is also available for the North American market as a no-extras six-disc set.