
c. 1606 - King James VI & I by John de Critz, via Wikimedia Commons.
With Mary & George putting King James VI of Scotland and I of England front and center, I thought it was time to do a roundup on this important British monarch!
James (1566-1625) was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, although he was taken away from her while still an infant so he could be raised Protestant and by Scottish nobles. His mother abdicated the Scottish throne in his favor in 1567, so he had regents controlling things until 1578-83ish. He married Anne of Denmark and they had three children who survived into adulthood.

As a great-great grandson of Henry VIII, James was in line for the English crown, and he ended up succeeding Elizabeth I when she died in 1603. He then moved to England and really ended up focusing on that country from there on out.

James’s reign included the Gunpowder plot (Catholics trying to blow up Parliament), English colonisation of Northern Ireland and the Americas, and witch hunts (of which he was a real proponent). He had close (likely sexual) relationships with male favorites.

James has been on screen many times; sadly, some of those are undocumented-by-photos-that-I-can-find, including:
- Lucien Littlefield in To Have and to Hold (1916)
- Jerrold Robertshaw in Guy Fawkes (1923)
- William Podmore in The King’s Author (1952)
- Everett Sloane in The King’s Bounty (1955)
- Angus MacDonald in Kings and Queens of England Volume II (1994)
- Wayne Opie in Elizabeth (2000)
- Jeremy Irons (voice?) in Freedom: A History of Us (2003)
Here’s those that I can document!
Raymond Hatton in To Have and to Hold (1922)
One of several adaptations of a novel about “an English soldier… turned Virginian explorer in colonial Jamestown” per Wikipedia. Sadly a lost film!

Jean Kircher & Judith Kircher in Mary of Scotland (1936)
Baby James is played by twin sisters in this biopic of his mother.

Manfred Mackeben in The Heart of a Queen (1940)
Baby James apparently is in this Mary Queen of Scots biopic as well, but I can’t find pics!

Anthony Eustrel in Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953)
He’s SUPER quickly in the final scene of this no-doubt-romanticized story of English explorer John Smith and Native American Pocahontas.

?? in Mary Queen of Scots (1971)
Baby James shows up in this biopic of his mother, but doesn’t get credited on IMDB.

Bill Paterson in Will Shakespeare aka Life of Shakespeare (1978)
He watches one of Shakespeare’s plays, giggling with his boytoy, in this bio-miniseries about the bard.

Patrick Malahide in Into the Labyrinth (1981)
A British TV show about dueling sorcerers, in which the protagonists end up in different historical time periods.

Hugh Ross in God’s Frontiersmen (1989)
A docu-drama about the Scots who, in the 17th century, moved to Northern Ireland to participate in the plantation system. Kendra skimming through this on YouTube looking for James: “How can you tell he’s the king? He hasn’t got shit all over him!”

Dudley Sutton in Orlando (1992)
A young English nobleman lives through several centuries. In the first portion, he’s in late Elizabethan England, and apparently James shows up in the (beautiful) ice skating scene.

Robert Carlyle in Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004)
A terrible TV miniseries that first tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots, then follows with the story of James. It’s pretty homophobic and the costumes are atrocious.


Ewen Bremner in Elizabeth I (2005)
I have no memory of James appearing in this QEI bio-series, but apparently he does!

Jonathan Pryce in The New World (2005)
At the very end of this beautiful film about the Jamestown settlement, Pocahontas comes to visit the English court.


Mathew Baynton/Jalaal Hartley in Horrible Histories (2009-24)
Of course this British comedy show had to include James!


James Clyde in Anonymous (2011)
I have ZERO memory of James showing up in this terrible (but beautifully costumed) film focused on the stupid theory that Edward de Vere wrote Shakespeare’s plays.

Jake Foy in Reign (2017)
NO idea, it’s Reign!

Derrek Riddell in Gunpowder (2017)
Given this TV miniseries focused on the Gunpowder plot, I’m guessing James was pretty central.


Andrew Rothney in Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
One of the final shots of this MQoS biopic shows James on the throne.

Alan Cumming in Doctor Who: “The Witchfinders” (2018)
The Doctor and his companions end up in the middle of a seventeenth century witch trial, and James shows up.


Tony Curran in Mary & George (2024)
A TV miniseries about James and his affair with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, particularly focused on the machinations of George’s mother.



Which is your favorite portrayal of King James VI & I on screen?
In the Doctor Who episode, it’s the female Doctor played by Jodie Whittaker who encounters King James.
Pretty sure it‘s just a typo but he was the great-great grandson of Henry VII not VIII 😊
I came here to write just that. Henry VIII had three kids, but none of them had children, so no grandchildren, unless you accept the Mary Boleyn/Cary story.
Not shitty costumes for a Starz production? Hallelujah!
I haven’t seen Mary & George, so the only one in recent memory for me is the episode of Doctor Who. I’ve got to admit, I loved Alan Cumming in the role – he was perfect, especially hearing him flirting with Ryan and calling him “my Nubian prince…” In truth, all the costuming on the episode was spot on, and my favorite line ever from Jodie’s Doctor getting annoyed at the reality of being a woman on earth, “if I was a bloke I wouldn’t have to waste my time explaining everything and could just get on with it…” I mean, that’s like every woman in history, ever…
I admit to having a soft spot for this version of James VI & I, not least because Mr Alan Cummings clearly decided “DOCTOR WHO is FUN! Hey, I could absolutely make this my audition reel, just in case the lovely Jodie pulls an Eccleston and they need a new Doctor…”
He must have been CRUSHED when they pulled in a different lanky Scottish scene-stealer as the Fourteenth Doctor!