Victoria (season one) (ITV, 2016)

Victoria – a historical and biographical drama – is a television series (based on a true story) which premiered on British television (ITV) in 2016. Season one, which has 8 episodes, focuses on the early years of Queen Victoria’s life. Here is some basic information about it:

** Created by Daisy Goodwin

** Written by Daisy Goodwin & A. N. Wilson

** Directed by Oliver Blackburn, Sandra Goldbacher & Tom Vaughan

** Run time: 8 x ca. 45 minutes = ca. 385 minutes

The cast includes the following

** Jenna Coleman as Victoria (born 1819, queen 1837-1901)

** Tom Hughes as Prince Albert (1819-1861) (Victoria’s husband)

** David Oakes as Prince Ernest (1818-1893) (Albert’s brother)

** Alex Jennings as Leopold (1790-1865) (Albert’s uncle, king of Belgium 1831-1865)

** Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne (1779-1848) (a British politician, prime minister 1834 & 1835-1844)

** Daniela Holtz as Baroness Lehzen (1784-1870) (a member of the royal staff)

** Ferdinand Kingsley as Charles Elme Francatelli (1805-1876) (a member of the royal staff, Victoria’s cook)

** Nell Hudson as Marianne Skerrett (1793-1887) (a member of the royal staff, Victoria’s dresser 1837-1862)

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them in this review.

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here, but the basic storyline is true.

As stated above, season one has 8 episodes. Here are the headlines:

# 1. Doll 123

# 2. Ladies in waiting

# 3. Brocket Hall

# 4. The clockwork prince

# 5. An ordinary woman

# 6. The queen’s husband

# 7. The engine of change

# 8. Young England

In season one, we follow the life of Victoria and the people around her from 1837, the year in which she becomes the queen of England, until 1840, the year in which she marries Prince Albert and gives birth to her first child.

What do reviewers say about it? Here are some answers:

** 67 per cent = Metacritic

** 82 per cent = IMDb

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes

On Amazon UK there are more than 280 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.7 stars.

As you can see, the general reception was very positive. Many reviewers offer a high rating. But not all. The rating on Metacritic is not as impressive as what we have on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. If you take a closer look at the reviews posted on Amazon UK, you will see that the high average rating includes several critical and negative reviews.

These reviewers claim that this product is highly overrated, because key characters are miscast, and because there are serious historical inaccuracies. I tend to agree with them. Let me explain:

Key characters are miscast. Here are some examples:

** Jenna Coleman was born in 1986. In 2016 she was 30. When the series begins, we are in 1837 and Victoria is 18. Jenna Coleman is 12 years too old for this role. In addition, she is too slim and too beautiful to play Victoria.

** Rufus Sewell was born in 1967. In 2016 he was 49. When the series begins, we are in 1837 and Lord M is 58. Rufus Sewell is too young for this role. In addition, he is too slim and too handsome to play Lord M.

** Three German characters – Prince Albert, Prince Ernest, and Leopold, king of Belgium – are played by British actors who speak English with a false German accent. German actors should have been chosen for these characters. German actors could have spoken English with a real German accent. In addition, they would have been able to speak German to each other. Sadly, British actors were chosen to play these roles. Why? For the benefit of the audience; in order to avoid subtitles when a foreign language is spoken.

Historical truth is violated. Here are some examples:

** In the drama, Victoria falls in love with Lord M. She falls so hard for him that she actually proposes to him. She wants to marry him! This is absurd. Lord M was her mentor. He was a father figure to her. That is all. In the drama, Lord M seems to be 10 or 20 years older than Victoria. In the real world, the age difference was 40 years. But this fact is never made clear in the drama. There is no historical evidence to confirm that Victoria ever proposed to Lord M.

** Charles Elme Francatelli was Victoria’s cook 1840-1842. He does not belong in season one which covers the time 1837-1840. He belongs in season two which covers the time 1841-1846

** In episode # 3 there are several references to the Chartists and the Newport revolt of 1839. In the drama, they appear to be a small band of crazy rebels who had some crazy demands. In the real world, the chartists were well organized and they had some very reasonable demands.

In the drama, Victoria takes pity on the Chartists who were arrested and sentenced to death. She wants to spare their lives and commutes their sentence to deportation. In the real world this never happened. Victoria did not bother to find out who the Chartists were and what they wanted. In the real world she did not do anything to save these men.

** The people behind the drama worked hard to make this historical drama look real. They tried to find good actors, they tried to dress them in the right clothes and they tried to find good locations to shoot each scene, indoors and outdoors. But they failed with regard to the language that is spoken in the drama. Only one language is spoken here: English.

German characters are played by British actors who speak English with a false German accent. They even speak English to each other. This is not realistic. The language spoken is an important aspect of the whole package, but the people behind the drama decided to ignore it. They chose the easy way: “We do not want subtitles. Let us hire British actors. Let them all speak English!”

As you can see, this drama has some serious flaws:

# 1. Key characters are miscast

# 2. Historical truth is violated several times

# 3. German characters speak English to each other

The people behind this drama present an airbrushed version of Victoria and the people around her. The Victoria that we see in this drama is not only more beautiful than the real Victoria was; she is also a better person: more human and more democratic than the real Victoria was. She cares for the poor much more than the real Victoria ever did.

That is why I have to go against the general trend here. That is why I cannot offer four of five stars for this product. I have to remove at least two stars because of the flaws mentioned above. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of three stars.

PS # 1. The following article about Queen Victoria and the Chartists is available online: Huw Fullerton, “What was Chartism? The history behind Victoria,” Radio Times, September 2016.

PS # 2. For more information about the Chartist movement and the Newport revolt of 1839, see the documentary film The Story of Wales (2012); episode # 4, “Furnace of Change.”

PS # 3. Season 2 of Victoria (with another 8 episodes) was shown on British television in 2017. ITV has announced that it will broadcast a Christmas special about Queen Victoria in December 2017.

PS # 4. You can find several detailed reviews of Victoria season one and season two in the following blog: “Enough of this Tomfoolery: A blog about British history from 1870 to 1939.”

*****

 

 Victoria, born 1819; queen of England 1837-1901

*****