Queen is making her return
VICTORIA: ROYAL DRAMA STARTS FILMING AGAIN
Expect new cast members.
As filming begins on the highly-anticipated second series of the ITV Choice hit drama series Victoria, Bafta-winning actress Dame Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones) has been confirmed as a new cast member.
Picking up six weeks after the first series ended, the second instalment establishes Victoria as a working mother, learning to balance her responsibilities as both parent and queen.
But with Prince Albert still struggling to find a role for himself there is an inevitable power struggle between husband and wife.
Says ITV’s director of television, Kevin Lygo: “Co-production company Mammoth and (writer and executive producer) Daisy Goodwin have brought the characters so vividly to life in this series, and we’re thrilled with the reception for Victoria. Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes will return to continue the story on ITV.”
Rigg will play the Duchess of Bucchleuch, the young queen’s new Mistress of the Robes, who is renowned for speaking her mind.
She joins returning cast members Nigel Lindsay (Unforgotten) as Sir Robert Peel, Alex Jennings (The Lady in the Van) as King Leopold, Peter Bowles (To the Manor Born) as Duke of Wellington, David Oakes (The White Queen) as Ernest, Daniela Holtz (Circle of Life) as Baroness Lehzen and Catherine Flemming as the Duchess of Kent.
Nell Hudson (Outlander) returns as Skerrett, Ferdinand Kingsley (The Borgias) is chef Francatelli and Adrian Schiller (The Secret Agent) is Penge.
As well as much drama in Buckingham Palace, the series will include trips to France and Germany, touch on tragedy in Ireland and war in Afghanistan, and see Victoria and Albert discovering sanctuary on the Isle of Wight.
The first series of the drama was one of ITV Choice’s highest rating drama of 2016, receiving critical and audience acclaim. The series has been sold to 350 territories worldwide and has proven hugely popular in the US, with the first series reaching an average audience of more than 6.3 million viewers.
The first episode drew in a 28% share – more viewers than the first series of Downton Abbey.
The second series of Victoria will be shown in South Africa exclusively on ITV Choice (DStv 123) in the third quarter of 2017 with the Christmas special transmission date still to be finalised. – Citizen reporter