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As a major exhibition on the enigmatic queen attracts the crowds in Edinburgh, three movies are set to explore her life

Since 1971 film-makers have tried to emulate the Oscar-winning success of Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson as the tragic Scottish queen and her nemesis, Elizabeth I. Aborted later attempts include one by Hollywood's actress-producer Scarlett Johansson and British director Alexander Mackendrick.

Two UK productions are still at early stages, but a Swiss film-maker has beaten them to it with a sympathetic psychological portrait set to be an art-house hit. Zurich-based Thomas Imbach has directed, produced and co-written the film, with Camille Rutherford playing Mary, which has been singled out for this season's festivals at Locarno and Toronto.

More than 400 years after she was executed by Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen of England, Mary Stuart remains the most enigmatic royal in Britain's history. Imbach said he has...

Coffee has got many a movie made, and kept many a scene on the boil. From Michael Mann to Jean-Luc Godard, David Thomson filters the meaning of the key bean-related moments

There comes a night in Michael Mann's film Heat (1995) when the police detective (Al Pacino) decides he should have a little chat with the criminal he suspects is planning a major heist (Robert De Niro). Your first instinct may be to wonder: does every criminal enterprise in Los Angeles qualify for this friendly heart-to-heart where the law explains to the outlaw just how serious the crime and its consequences will be – is it a little like having your Miranda rights read to you? Or, is it simply that a big movie with Pacino and De Niro had to bring its firepower together, in the way Friedrich Schiller could not resist improving on history with a meeting between Queen...

Award-winning actor with a fastidious intelligence and a hint of inner steel

Anna Massey, who has died of cancer aged 73, made her name on the stage as a teenager in French-window froth. She then graduated, with effortless and extraordinary ease, to the classics and to the work of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and David Hare. In later years, she became best known for her award-winning work in television and film. What constantly impressed was her fastidious intelligence and capacity for stillness: always the mark of a first-rate actor.

Born in Thakeham, West Sussex, she was bred into show business although, in personal terms, that proved something of a mixed blessing. Her father was Raymond Massey, a Canadian actor who achieved success in Hollywood; her mother was Adrianne Allen who had appeared in the original production of Noël Coward's Private Lives. Anna's godfather was the film director John Ford.

Since...

No knighthoods for tabloid-backed stars, but Sheila Hancock, David Suchet and composer Howard Goodall make the list

Despite the best efforts of the tabloid press, there were no knighthoods for either Bruce Forsyth or Simon Cowell, but veteran actors Sheila Hancock and David Suchet were both awarded CBEs, as was the composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall. Representatives of the arts and media make up 7% of the honours list.

Harriet Walter, best known as a classical actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company – most recently as Cleopatra opposite Patrick Stewart's Antony and as Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart in the West End and on Broadway – is made a dame, 11 years after becoming a Cbe. Reacting to her award, Walter said: "I have reservations about some parts of the honours system. I fear it's not very fair and I think there are lots of people not recognised who should be." But she...