In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 2010 British historical drama film "The King's Speech" directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Inspired by actual events, the films stars Colin Firth as Prince Albert, Duke of York - the future King George VI - who struggles to cope with a stammer that he has had since he was a child, which over time has lead to him experiencing moments of discomfort while performing the mandatory public speaking addresses that he is required to make as a part of his royal duties. In an attempt to seek out a treatment for the Duke of York's condition, his wife, Elizabeth (played by Helena Bonham Carter), persuades him to see the Australian-born Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush), a non-medically trained speech defects therapist, who almost immediately insists on calling the Duke of York the same name that his family members call him, "Bertie", and who over time demonstrates effective speech therapy techniques that help Bertie overcome his stammering. Against the backdrop of the death of Bertie's father, King George V, the coronation and the subsequent abdication of Bertie's brother David (King Edward VIII), and Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939, Bertie must work to traverse feelings of unworthiness, the potential damage to the royal family as a result of his father dying and his brother's selfish act of abdication so that he could be with the notorious Wallis Simpson (played by Eve Best), while working together with Lionel Logue to enable him to find a way to not allow his stammer to define him and debilitate him from rising to the occasion of becoming King and having to address and be a beacon of hope for the British people as they face the looming threat of World War. The film also stars Guy Pearce as King Edward VIII, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, Derek Jacobi as Cosmo Gordon Lang, Jennifer Ehle as Myrtle Logue, Michael Gambon as King George V, as well as a cast of other wonderfully gifted actors who play characters and depictions of recognisable real life people who have influenced the world.
