Starring Christopher Plummer and Vanessa Redgrave, YOUNG CATHERINE is an opulent passionate mini-series based on the early life of Catherine the Great as she fights to win the throne of ‘All the Russians’.

This US$8 million, four-hour drama was filmed completely in the USSR. A Lavish pageant, full of grandiloquent actors, fabulous costumes and magnificent architecture are all put in service to create intrigue, power and romance with hints of the ever popular kinky royal sex.

Catherine (Julia Ormond) is born to a minor German prince. She is 16 when she and her mother (Marthe Keller) are brought to St. Petersburg by the empress Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave). Catherine marries the feebleminded Peter (Reece Dinsdale), heir to the Russian throne. The mini-series follows Catherine until she deposes Peter and is crowned Czarina in 1762.

YOUNG CATHERINE is the classic story of rags to riches, of someone who came to power from obscurity. A strong and highly intelligent female ruling in an age of powerful men; Catherine tried to drag medieval Russia into her own 18^th Century present. Her views on pollution, overpopulation and deforestation would be modern today and her private life was way ahead of her time.

YOUNG CATHERINE was directed by Michael Anderson from a script by Chris Bryant. The movie stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller and France Nero with special appearance by Maximilian Schell as Frederick of Prussia. Julia Ormond plays the title role with Mark Frankel as Gregory Orlov and Reece Dinsdale as Grand Duke Peter.

Executive produced by Pat Ferns, Michael Deeley and Stephen Smallwood.