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Will The New PBS Series ‘Victoria’ Be The Next ‘Downton Abbey?’ Official Release Date Set [Video]

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 15:08 PST, Dec 14, 2016

Did watching The Crown soothe your Downton Abbey withdrawal for a time, and now you are in search of something else to serve your Anglophile needs? Well, especially if you like The Crown, a series on the time before is just about to launch next month on PBS. Victoria is the story of Queen Victoria and her reign from the beginning. When most people picture Queen Victoria, they imagine an older woman, but the series starts when Victoria is still a teenager.

Victoria should do for Queen Victoria what The Crown is doing for Queen Elizabeth, which is, to tell her story from pre-reign all the way through. Even though more people know the story of Queen Elizabeth, seeing The Crown’s Claire Foy in the role has ignited new interest in how what we now know as the royal family came about, says the Inquisitr. Just having a peek into Queen Elizabeth’s life before she ascended to the throne has made her just a bit more real, more human to a whole new audience.

The Wall Street Journal says that Victoria might just be the next Downton Abbey if the amazing ratings in the U.K. are any indication, where Season 1 aired this last year on BBC. The show has been a ratings smash, and even a bit heavy on the romance, considering that this is the woman who lent her name to the era known as Victorian, which is highlighted by a more buttoned-down, Puritanical time.

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PBS has brought so many excellent shows on Masterpiece, and now it will bring Victoria from BBC to American shores, starting on January 15, just a month away. Victoria will even take the slot that Downton Abbey left behind, coming into homes every Sunday evening. Arianne Chernock, professor of history at Boston University and author of a new book coming out on Queen Victoria, says that there is a hunger for stories of the British monarchy.

“There’s a kind of explicit nostalgia for the stability and tradition that the royal family represents.”

The main reason that most people picture Queen Victoria as a little round old lady is because she ruled the United Kingdom for 63 years (that, and she was not even five feet tall). Executive producer, Rebecca Eaton says that the emphasis on Victoria was the big selling point.

“Most people in this country picture Victoria as a round old lady with a doily on her head. By contrast, 18 is dramatic and emotional. Plus, there’s a love story. It’s the stuff of great drama.”

Just getting to see Victoria and Albert fall in love will be worth the price of admission. PBS is introducing some of the other characters that are critical to the life and times of Queen Victoria, starting with Lord Melbourne, who is to Queen Victoria what Winston Churchill was to Queen Elizabeth. But in the case of Queen Victoria, there is a strong suggestion that she was crushing pretty hard on Lord Melbourne.

Then there is the Duchess of Kent, mother of Victoria, who was a German princess, but after the death of her husband, she is living in a strange land, and her teen daughter is now the queen. Then there is Victoria’s Uncle Ernest, a German king in the Hanover family tree, who is not really happy for his niece. Lastly, there is Victoria’s closest friend, Dash, her sweet dog and faithful sidekick.

All signs indicate that Victoria will be a great hit in the United States, starting next month.

Are you looking forward to Victoria?

[Featured Image by PBS]

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