The BBC is a master at staging costume dramas. Award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern and film director Gillies MacKinnon bring the story behind the Gunpowder Plot to BBC TWO in two original films exploring the lives of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James 1st.

The first section deals with the arrival of the young Mary (played by newcomer Clemence Poesy) from exile in France to take over the Scottish throne, she has to prove her intelligence and determination... With her French accent and Italian adviser, she confuses and annoys the tough Scottish lords but is clever enough to marry the important English Lord Darnley (Paul Nicholls) and then have him swiftly slaughtered by her lover, Bothwell (Kevin McKidd) once he has fathered her child.

Filmed entirely on location in Romania with key Scottish crew, McGovern's script concentrates on Mary's short-lived reign and the battles she has to fight with both her Protestant subjects and the English Queen, Elizabeth 1st (Catherine McCormack).

The second section opens with a crippled and bisexual James (Robert Carlyle) consenting to the beheading of his own mother before taking over the English throne on the death of Queen Elizabeth I. He conspires against Parliament while growing to love his Danish queen (Sira Stampe), while at the same time Catholic plotters led by Guy Fawkes (Michael Fassbender) plan to blow up Parliament - and the king - by smuggling gunpowder into the cellars below the building. The plotters are discovered and the leaders executed.

The drama reunites McGovern with producer Gub Neal. The pair created Cracker together and were also responsible for the award-winning drama-documentary, Hillsborough.

In Gunpowder, McGovern explores the nature of power and kingship with a drama inspired by historical characters and events, in much the same way as Shakespeare interpreted the past in the history plays.

The executive producer, Robert Cooper, says: "Gunpowder, Treason and Plot is a signature drama from one of Britain's most accomplished television writers, who is known for exploring such universal themes as injustice, prejudice and intolerance... It's a personal vision, a dramatic interpretation of history."