SHE famously had her head chopped off in what was essentially a family feud over a throne, so it was inevitable American TV moguls would one day get around to "re-imagining" Mary, Queen of Scots's life as a soap opera.
Mary's story is getting a new sexed-up dramatisation in the States which promises a "juicy love triangle", a pop soundtrack and, bizarrely, a hunky Nostradamus.
If the sexed-up Tudors television series faced a barrage of criticism from historians for being "shameful" and "gratuitously awful", then the makers of the Mary series Reign prove once again that historical accuracy and critical acclaim are a low priority in the quest for ratings.
The latest drama to mine British royalty for its plotlines sets the young Queen of Scots up as a "witty and mischievous spirit" surrounded by a gaggle of Sex And The City-style girlfriends.
The show, which will air in the US on cable channel CW from October, has - according to the creators - taken "a certain amount of latitude" with the truth.
It follows a 15-year-old Mary, played by Adelaide Kane - an Australian actress who reportedly made much of her half-Scottish roots to land the part - as she attends glamorous balls in the French Court and pursues torrid romances, all set to the soundtrack of hit pop songs. "The music is a soundtrack," said executive producer Laurie McCarthy. "The characters aren't hearing it. So I don't think there will be a disconnect for the audience."
However, viewers might raise an eyebrow at the entrance of master of supernatural prophecies Nostradamus.
In the CW version, Nostradamus - a French apothecary and reputed seer who lived from 1503 to 1566, making him 54 when Mary was 15 - is reimagined as a "brooding and hunky twentysomething" played by Rossif Sutherland. In this context, he acts as a psychic advisor to Mary's future mother-in-law, arch-villain Queen Catherine, whose son Prince Francis would wed Mary aged 14, become King of France aged 15, and die a year later. All of this, of course, is foreseen by Nostradamus, who warns the grand matriarch about her son's doom if he weds the headstrong Scot.
Megan Follows, who plays Queen Catherine, said: "She's got a deep and incredible sense of loyalty and love for her son.
"I think her motivation is always coming from a really sincere place, and it's a dark world and heads do roll in this world."
One of those heads - besides Mary's - is probably that of Prince Francis' invented half-brother, Bash, who is crow-barred in as yet another love interest for the seemingly irresistable bombshell, Mary.
Details of the forthcoming drama emerged as Kane appeared with co-stars Toby Regbo, Torrance Coombs and Follows, alongside executive producer Laurie McCarthy, at the Television Critics Association Summer 2013 press tour, the traditional venue for networks to plug their autumn/winter offerings.
"We're not the History Channel," said Kane, defending questions over the show's historical accuracy.
Scottish historian Dr Jenny Wormald, of Edinburgh University, who wrote the book Mary, Queen Of Scots: A Study In Failure, said: "Those of us today [who regard] Mary Queen of Scots as a distinctly tedious pain in the neck can only groan at yet another romantic outburst about the eternal heroine."
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