BBC to air Duchess of Sussex’s Suits drama

THE BBC is to air the TV drama Suits, which stars the Duchess of Sussex, after acquiring it from a US broadcaster.

The Duchess plays lawyer Rachel Zane in the legal drama, which she left after meeting Prince Harry.

She joined the show during the first series in 2011, playing a paralegal who was yet to pass the bar exam, and departed after series seven.

The BBC has acquired the show from Nbcuniversal and will screen it on its television channels and as a boxset on iplayer. It will be available later this year, at a date to be confirmed.

Sue Deeks, the head of BBC programme acquisition, called Suits “smart and stylish” and “star-studded”, saying she was delighted to bring it to viewers.

When the drama was shown on Netflix last year, it set a new US streaming record and was watched for 57.7 billion minutes, according to data firm Nielsen.

The Duchess has described her Suits co-stars as “family” and invited several of them to attend her wedding at Windsor.

They included Patrick J Adams, who played her on-screen love interest, Mike Ross.

Suits catapulted the Duchess to fame after years in the industry.

“I’ve done so many pilots that never saw the light of day and we didn’t know what Suits was going to become at the time,” she said in 2017. “Now there’s security and police and fans and tears when we’re filming, so it’s been such a wild ride for all of us.”

She quit the show – and her acting career – after meeting Prince Harry, saying in their first joint interview: “I don’t see it as giving anything up. I just see it as change. It’s a new chapter, right? I’ve ticked this box, and I feel very proud of the work I’ve done there, and now it’s time to work with [Harry] as a team.”

Her final appearance as Rachel was in the series seven finale, where her character married Mike and the couple moved to Seattle. The fictional wedding aired less than a month before her wedding to Prince Harry.

The BBC has acquired all nine series of the show. A later episode contains a joke about the Duchess’s new life. Mike returned for a guest appearance and was asked how Rachel was doing. “If I told you how good, you probably wouldn’t believe me,” he replied.

The Sussexes are not expected to recceive any money from the BBC for the programme.

Meanwhile, Meghan has hired a top New York-based photographer for a family photoshoot with her rarely seen children, according to reports.

Jake Rosenberg is reported to have flown to California this month to take pictures of Prince Archie and his sister Princess Lilibet.

Mr Rosenberg also took pictures of the Duchess and her children at her home in Montecito, and a few shots of Meghan cooking in the kitchen, according to the Daily Mail.

‘There’s security and police and fans and tears when we’re filming, so it’s been a wild ride for all of us’