Toddler’s tantrum that got granny a part in Victoria!
A GRANDMOTHER was given a starring role in the TV drama Victoria after being drafted in to calm down her actress granddaughter.
Lindsey Powell, 53, even got into costume to help two-year- old Ariana Clarke, who plays Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s first child, used to the other actors in the ITV show.
But the supermarket worker was such a natural that she was hired on the spot to play baby Vicky’s nanny.
Ariana’s mother Jennifer Powell, 31, said: ‘When we turned up to film, Ariana was a bit put off by everybody in big dresses and old clothing.
‘My mum had just come along to help for the day, but they ended up putting her in costume to help keep Ariana calm, and she did so well that the director kept her in for the scenes.
‘Mum was really proud to be a part of it. She’s a bit of a royalist and always loved all of it growing up, so to be a part of the programme was special for her.’
The series finale of the costume drama, starring Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria and Tom Hughes as Prince Albert, airs on Sunday.
Ariana won the part due to her remarkable resemblance to Queen Victoria at the same age.
Miss Powell, a former estate agent, added: ‘Ariana did really well for such a young girl and the director said she was one of the best babies they’d ever had.
‘Every time she sees it on TV now she laughs and thinks she’s off to go play in the big castle with the queen.
‘She called Jenna Coleman ‘mama’ on set and spent a lot of time with her. She thinks she is her friend now, and when she sees the programme on she points and shouts “mama” at the TV.’
Miss Powell, from Winsford, Cheshire, also has a seven-year-old daughter, Sienna, who models.
She and her partner Lee Clarke, 35, are throwing everything into supporting their daughters’ careers.