ITV has commissioned a second series of its glossy royal biopic Victoria with Jenna Coleman signed up to reprise her role as the monarch.
The series, which also stars Tom Hughes as Prince Albert and Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne, has consistently outperformed the second series of BBC1’s Poldark in the Sunday night slot, despite having started a week earlier.
ITV said that overnight consolidated ratings including catchup had averaged at 7.7 million viewers, and last Sunday’s episode attracted 5.2 million viewers on ITV and its +1 channel, half a million more than Poldark.
Both shows are made by Mammoth Screen, which was acquired by ITV’s production arm in June last year.
Author Daisy Goodwin will return as writer and will also executive produce along with Mammoth’s Damien Timmer and Kate McKerrell.
ITV 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.”
Goodwin said: “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!”
