The early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of eighteen to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.The early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of eighteen to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.The early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of eighteen to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.
- Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
- 11 wins & 18 nominations total
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Storyline
The early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of eighteen to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.
- Taglines
- Every inch a Queen.
- Genres
- Certificate
- TV-PG
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaJenna Coleman was allowed to read Queen Victoria's diaries as research. Parts of the diaries had been removed upon the Queen's instruction shortly after her death.
- GoofsPrincess Feodora did not live in the palace and hence would not have been in a position to sell invitations to a ball. There is no evidence that King George IV wanted to marry her, and she was eager to leave Kensington Palace permanently after marrying the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. There is no evidence that she was a scheming, jealous sister who fled Langenburg and refused to return to her home.
- Alternate versionsSeries 1: PBS Masterpiece broadcasts add on average 5 minutes of additional footage per episode not shown in the ITV broadcasts. The exception to this are the first two episodes of Series 1 which for PBS airing were edited together to form a single feature-length episode for a two-hour timeslot; the edited version removes several minutes of footage from these episodes (including the original closing moments of episode 1). The North American DVD/Blu-ray release of Series 1 is the ITV version and thus does not include the extra footage seen on PBS. Also, the ITV broadcasts/DVD release indicate episode numbers in the opening credits alongside episode titles; this is not shown on PBS.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Too Much TV: Episode #1.21 (2016)
Top review
Good, but not that good
It starts very well. They give a nice insight into an 18yo girl, totally protected and kept from everything except her family, suddenly dropped into the position of Queen of the most powerful country on the planet. Not unexpected, but completely unprepared. The early episodes are very good. Melbourne and Peel are both very well done and the drama does what it should do, it breathes life into history.
The problems start when Albert appears. Tom Hughes is simply dreadful as Albert, completely unconvincing. Albert was an intense, prickly and stubborn man. Hughes plays him as a sulky toy boy. It is awful. But then Hughes tends to play sulky toy boys so it is hardly a surprise. A better casting would have been Daniel Brühl who played Nikki Lauda in Rush, but there it is. I suspect Hughes was included as eye candy for the ladies, and certainly as a man I found Jenna Coleman very nice to look at, so I don't begrudge them that. The difference is Coleman carried her part well, Hughes was all wrong. By contrast, his brother Earnest is excellent.
It also gets increasingly soapy after Albert arrives on the scene, culminating in a final episode that is little more than an extended advert for the 2nd series. It gets quite bad. It is known that Albert was not that keen on Victoria and accepted her proposal because it was his duty to do so. He fell in love her, very much so, but after they were married. That won't do at all for a soap (it would be OK the other way around), so he has to be besotted from the start. It's hard to see the Prince Albert we are given by Hughes falling in love with anyone except himself, so it's all very false.
The problems start when Albert appears. Tom Hughes is simply dreadful as Albert, completely unconvincing. Albert was an intense, prickly and stubborn man. Hughes plays him as a sulky toy boy. It is awful. But then Hughes tends to play sulky toy boys so it is hardly a surprise. A better casting would have been Daniel Brühl who played Nikki Lauda in Rush, but there it is. I suspect Hughes was included as eye candy for the ladies, and certainly as a man I found Jenna Coleman very nice to look at, so I don't begrudge them that. The difference is Coleman carried her part well, Hughes was all wrong. By contrast, his brother Earnest is excellent.
It also gets increasingly soapy after Albert arrives on the scene, culminating in a final episode that is little more than an extended advert for the 2nd series. It gets quite bad. It is known that Albert was not that keen on Victoria and accepted her proposal because it was his duty to do so. He fell in love her, very much so, but after they were married. That won't do at all for a soap (it would be OK the other way around), so he has to be besotted from the start. It's hard to see the Prince Albert we are given by Hughes falling in love with anyone except himself, so it's all very false.
helpful•6934
- emrys-948-238958
- Oct 23, 2016
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