The Musketeers Collection

France, 17th century. A young man, d'Artagan, sets out for Paris with the aim of joining the elite Musketeers. There he first antagonises then befriends the three greatest Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. He is also drawn into a plot by the scheming Cardinal Richelieu to undermine the Queen of France and the English Duke of Buckingham.

D'Artagnan has become a Musketeer. Protestants hold La Rochelle, and the Queen loves Buckingham, who'll soon send ships to support the rebels. Richelieu enlists Rochefort to kidnap Constance, the Queen's go-between and D'Artagnan's love. The Cardinal uses the wily, amoral Milady de Winter to distract D'Artagnan. But soon, she is D'Artagnan's sworn enemy, and she has an unfortunate history with Athos as well. Milady goes to England to dispatch Buckingham; the Musketeers fight the rebels. Milady, with Rochefort's help, then turns to her personal agenda. Can D'Artagnan save Constance, defeat Rochefort, slip de Winter's ire, and stay free of the Cardinal? All for one, one for all.

It's 1649: Cardinal Mazarin (Philippe Noiret) hires the impoverished D'Artagnan (Michael York) to find the other Musketeers: Oliver Cromwell (Alan Howard) has overthrown the English King, so Cardinal Mazarin fears revolt, particularly from the popular Duke of Beaufort (Eusebio Lázaro). Porthos (Frank Finlay), bored with riches and wanting a title, signs on, but Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), an abbé, and Athos (Oliver Reed), a brawler raising an intellectual son, assist the Duke of Beaufort in secret. When they fail to halt the Duke's escape from prison, the Musketeers are expendable, and Cardinal Mazarin sends them to London to rescue Charles I (Bill Paterson). They are also pursued by Justine de Winter (Kim Cattrall), the avenging daughter of Milady de Winter, their enemy twenty years ago. They must escape England, avoid Justine, serve Queen Anne (Geraldine Chaplin), and secure Beauford's political reforms.