ITV has recommissioned its popular historical drama Victoria following average audiences of 7.7 million for series one
Jenna Coleman will not relinquish Queen Victoria’s throne as the hit ITV drama has been commissioned for a second series.
Sunday night prime-time drama Victoria launched in August, with Doctor Who star Coleman playing the young monarch in the early years of her reign – flanked by Rufus Sewell as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne and Tom Hughes as husband Prince Albert.
Victoria has been a ratings hit, beating the BBC’s period drama by averaging 7.7 million viewers, according to ITV figures.
The new series will bring Victoria into the next stage of her reign as she manages scandals, crises and the struggles of family life.
Writer and series creator Daisy Goodwin explained: “Even though she reigned in the 19th Century, Victoria is a heroine for our times.
“In the next series she faces the very modern dilemma of how to juggle children with her husband and her job.
“As Victoria will discover, it’s hard to be a wife, a mother and ruler of the most powerful nation on Earth.”
Damien Timmer, of production company Mammoth Screen, promised a series 'packed full of extraordinary real life events, with constitutional crises, scandals at court and personal challenges aplenty for the Queen and Prince Albert'.
Victoria is set to launch in the US in January and programme-makers will be hoping it echoes the success of period drama Downton Abbey, which gained a fan following in America.
ITV’s director of television Kevin Lygo said: “Mammoth and Daisy Goodwin have brought the characters so vividly to life in this series, and we’re thrilled with the reception for Victoria.
“We’re pleased to be able to confirm that Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes will return to continue the story on ITV.”
