This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If you miss "Downton Abbey" — and who doesn't? — PBS has a new eight-parter that is more than a bit reminiscent of that beloved series.
But while "Downton" was a work of fiction, the eight-part drama "Victoria" tells the (mostly) true story of how a pretty much unprepared teenager began her reign over an empire that spanned the globe.
"What if tomorrow you wake up and you are the most powerful woman in the world?" said Jenna Coleman ("Doctor Who"), who stars as Victoria. "You're a teenager. You're inexperienced in life in lots of ways, yet you have to inherit this job and have to walk into the Houses of Parliament and talk to your privy council. It's extraordinary to even consider."
Queen Victoria wasn't quite a child queen, but it was close. She turned 18 less than a month before her uncle, King William IV, died and she ascended the throne.
Victoria had been under the thumb of her mother, the Duchess of Kent (Catherine Flemming), and her mother's personal secretary, Sir John Conroy (Paul Rhys) — who fervently hoped that William IV would die before Victoria turned 18 so they could rule the country in her name.
"She was very ill-prepared," said executive producer Daisy Goodwin, "because she'd basically been held hostage by her mother and John Conroy."
And they plotted to control her through a regency after she was already on the throne.
"Victoria" is filled with intrigue. Family infighting. Political maneuvering. And romance.
Prince Albert (Tom Hughes) — who would marry Queen Victoria in 1840 — doesn't even show up until Episode 2 of the series. Indeed, the young queen first falls for her prime minister, Lord Melbourne (Rufus Sewell) — a man 40 years her senior.
Goodwin — who wrote both "Victoria" and the book on which it is based — studied Victoria's voluminous diaries for her biographies. The queen wrote more than 62 million words in her diaries — 2,500 words a day.
"Her vivacious nature just comes out on the page," Coleman said. "She writes in capitals when she's excited. She underlines, underlines, underlines. You can kind of see her passionate nature on the page."
"I didn't really have to fictionalize that much because Victoria kept such a detailed record of her own life," Goodwin said.
Although some of "Victoria" is interpretation.
"She doesn't write 'I am love with Lord Melbourne,'" Goodwin said. "But if you count out the number of times she mentions Lord Melbourne in the two years that they're together, it's pretty clear that that's exactly what happened.
"I really haven't had to fictionalize very much."
Goodwin, obviously, created scenes and conversations, but insisted they were "all based on things that could absolutely have happened."
"It was really a question of reading between the lines of what she wrote in her diaries, because they were censored by her daughter after her death."
At Victoria's request, her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, created edited versions of the diaries after the queen's death and destroyed many of the originals.
"She did a lot of burning," Goodwin said.
Still, "Victoria" is more accurate than other filmed Victoria biographies. The series portrays an assassination attempt by a mentally ill young man — which was also in the 2009 movie "Young Victoria" (written by "Downton Abbey" creator/writer Julian Fellowes). In the film, Albert takes a bullet intended for the queen; in the series and in reality, the would-be assassin missed, and it's possible his guns weren't even loaded.
A pregnant Victoria insisted on going back out in her carriage that afternoon "and people were very impressed by her bravery," Goodwin said. "She was a tough cookie."
While most royal marriages were not about love, the romance of Victoria and Albert was genuine — eventually. In Victoria's diaries, she wrote that when she met Albert, she was not impressed.
"She was, like, 'Yeah, loser,' " Goodwin said. "And then they meet again, and suddenly things take on a different cast. … They genuinely were in love, and the reason they had nine children is that they were really into each other."
Although "Downton Abbey" was fictional, it was filmed in the real Highclere Castle. "Victoria" was filmed largely in a huge airplane hangar where Buckingham Palace was re-created to scale — and it's "huge," according to Coleman.
"Yeah, it's massive," Goodwin said. "It's really incredible. I think we should rent it out for weddings and bar mitzvahs."
"Victoria" could, perhaps, be around a lot longer than "Downton Abbey," which ran for 47 episodes over six seasons. Season 1 of "Victoria" begins in June 1837 (just before she became queen) and ends in November 1840 (just after the birth of her eldest child, the future German empress).
Victoria reigns for another 60 years after that.
"You do the math," Goodwin said. "I think there is more than enough story to take us quite a long way if that's what the audience wants."
And there are plenty of historical characters yet to enter the story.
"She does have nine children, and they all have rather amazing stories, too," Goodwin said. "So it potentially could be a long-running thing."
Twitter: @ScottDPierce —
'Victoria on Masterpiece'
The two-hour premiere of 'Victoria' airs Sunday, Jan. 15, at 8 p.m. on PBS/Ch. 7. The remaining six episodes air on successive Sundays.