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The reason is not, as a colleague remarked, because they like a bit of ruff but because showing both the public and private sides of Elizabeth's life offers an actress a really meaty role.

Helen Mirren dons costume, corset and make-up in C4's £5.5m two-part drama called, with remarkable simplicity, Elizabeth I. As Monarchy By David Starkey also deals with the queen in the latest edition, it's very much Elizabethan week on C4. Starkey, incidentally, has given the seal of approval to the portrayal of Tudor England in an article in Radio Times after the publication sent him to Lithuania, where C4's Elizabeth was filmed, to check it out.

Mirren wears the crown before the BBC's epic, The Virgin Queen, is screened with Shameless star Anne-Marie Duff in the leading role. There are also reports that Blanchett will reprise her Oscar-nominated role in a sequel to the 1998 film Elizabeth. On the London West End stage, Harriet Walter is currently playing Queen Bess in Schiller's play Mary Stuart.

What, if anything, is different about Mirren's Elizabeth remains to be seen. She's claimed that the main inspiration for her performance was Miranda Richardson's Queenie in the TV comedy series Blackadder.

"Her Elizabeth is so genius. It's just fabulous and, in its comedic, excessive way, there's a lot of accuracy there," says Mirren.

It'll be interesting to see how this lines up with another quote about trying to play her as two people - "the necessary icon and the person she is within: vulnerable, frightened, passionate, insecure, nervous, whatever".

This series, written by Nigel Williams, concentrates on the later years of her reign. Her relationships with the Earl of Leicester (played by Jeremy Irons) and the Earl of Essex (Hugh Dancy) feature alongside the war with Spain and the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.

Mirren was first approached about the project 18 months ago, then worked with Williams on the development of the script. Previous Elizabeths clearly don't bother her. "I've not seen many portrayals of her - I don't think we have seen enough," she says.

"The last major portrayal on television was Glenda Jackson, a long time ago. Elizabeth was such an extraordinary character and is such an important part of our history, but much more than that, she was an amazing person."

She read history books and biographies about her, plus some of the Queen's own writings and books on contemporary Elizabethan life. "I also studied paintings, portraits and contemporary pictures of the period as well as buildings, particularly the Tower of London, which is not far away from where I live," she says.

"Portraits are valuable to a certain extent but they're a very false image of someone, especially in those days as they were painted for political reasons. Obviously I used Nigel's script as a benchmark which helped me to research attitudes of the time as well."

She feels a responsibility to do as much research as possible when playing "someone you know". Portraying a historical character depends so much on the work of historians, she feels. It's important to read as much material as is available and make your own judgements about the character and their motives.

After all that, looking at herself in make-up and costume was still a shock. "The whole process of creating my visual persona as Elizabeth was evolutionary. Her character had to be discussed - what she would be wearing, what sort of wigs, which hair colour, her age, her demeanour etc," says Mirren.

"Although the process of building up the character is a layered one, every time I get into costume I am still taken by surprise when I see my reflection in the mirror."

The actress reckons that the Queen was brilliant with her subjects, finding a way to be easy with them. "I think she had a little touch of the early Diana in the sense that she made people feel relaxed with her. She chatted and joked with them, she wasn't haughty or withholding from ordinary people, and they loved her for it."

Mirren seems to have cornered the market in monarchs at the moment. She's now portraying Elizabeth II in a £5m movie called The Queen, which also features Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair. Directed by Stephen Frears, the film focuses on how Diana's death affected "the Queen, Britain and the people".

After that, Mirren is set to reprise her role as detective Jane Tennison in what she says will be the final Prime Suspect for ITV. With a story involving murder, intrigue and deception, it'll be just like being back in Elizabeth's court - but without a ruff in sight.

* Monarchy By David Starkey: Monday, C4, 8pm.

* Elizabeth I: Thursday, C4, 9pm.