For Doctor Who junkies wondering whether Jenna Coleman’s recent departure from the show with Ashildr at the end of Episode 10: Face The Raven will result in a new spin-off series, you might need to cool your anticipation as she’s down to broaden her horizons in Victoria on ITV next. Starring as the queen of Great Britain herself she’ll be able to put all of her historic period experience in Doctor Who to good use as she dons an array of massive dresses to transform into the role.
Air date
Coming to ITV later in 2016, the official air date hasn’t been confirmed as of yet and though filming is already underway, there’s still an element of casting to be finalised, so we’re probably looking at Spring at the earliest for the 90-minute opening episode to go out. If we were to put a bet on it, we’d probably go for Easter weekend for such a big production to start with the remaining eight one hour episodes airing weekly thereafter.
Story
The plot for the eight-part series focuses on Queen Victoria’s early years on the throne, taking her from a very young coronation at the age of eighteen to her courtship and eventual marriage with Prince Albert. It features her reluctance to be rushed into a marriage with the young German, who was only 21 himself at the time they marries, but then he was her first cousin, which is enough to put anyone off really.
Putting the marginal inbreeding to one side, the two eventually wed, but in those days Royal match-making occasionally included an element of incest, so we probably shouldn’t judge them too harshly. As such it’s a coming of age story for one of the country’s most recognisable monarchs and it will be interesting to see how much of the politics and Royal machinations make their way into the series in addition to the young love side of the Queen’s early reign.
Cast
In addition to Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria, the series also features Tom Hughes (Cemetary Junction) as Albert and Rufus Sewell (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) as Victoria’s first prime minister, Lord Melbourne. The remaining confirmed cast members includes Alex Jennings (The Lady In The Van) as Leopold I, King of Belgium and uncle to both Victoria and Albert, who was responsible for arranging their marriage, Paul Rhys (Being Human) as Sir John Conroy, Peter Firth (World Without End) as the Duke of Cumberland and Catherine Flemming (No Place to Go) as the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria’s mother.
Eve Myles (Torchwood) plays Mrs Jenkins, the Queen’s senior dresser, Adrian Schiller (Suffragette) is Penge, the Steward of the royal houw, Nichola McAuliffe (Coronation Street) is the Duchess of Cumberland, Daniela Holtz is Baroness Lehzen, Nell Hudson is Miss Skerrett, Tommy-Lawrence Knight (The Sarah Jane Adventures) plays hall boy, Brodie; Nigel Lindsay (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa) is Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the Tory party and Alice Orr-Ewing (The Theory of Everything) stars as Lady Flora Hastings, lady-in-waiting to Victoria’s dear old mum, the Duchess of Kent.
Production
Victoria is being produced by Mammoth Screen, with celebrated novelist Daisy Goodwin making her television screenwriting debut in the series. She will also be one of the executive producer alongside Dan McCulloch and Mammoth Screen’s managing director Damien Timmer. Filming got underway in October 2015 and casting was still being finalised as of the 14th December 2015.
First impressions
While there’s always an element of over-romanticising the Victorian-era, the addition of Jenna Coleman to the cast of ITV’s Victoria does give the series a certain interest level, especially for anyone that has been watching her run around with the Doctor for the last two years. If Goodwin has stuck true to the history of the time and not lost any credibility in the balance by glossing over the negatives too much then we should be in for a decent historical drama.
