Superb drama with a stunning performance from Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. Consumed with grief, after the death of Prince Albert, the arrival of John Brown, Albert's fiery former servant, shakes the Queen from her melancholy and gives her a new lease of life, but feathers are ruffled within the palace as a touching friendship develops tentatively between the two. As public feeling turns against the monarch, the pressure falls squarely on Brown's shoulders, turning the proud, strong Scotsman into a shambling drunk. Billy Connolly is a revelation as Brown in this powerfully poignant romance.