SCREEN stars Jenna Coleman and Rufus Sewell have been filming at Castle Howard this week for a major ITV drama series.

The pair headline the cast of Victoria - an eight-part drama about the early life of Queen Victoria from her accession to the throne at 18 through to her marriage to Prince Albert.

Jenna, whose CV includes Doctor Who, Death Comes to Pemberley and Dancing on the Edge, plays Victoria, who was last month eclipsed by Elizabeth II as our longest-reigning monarch.

Rufus, renowned for The Man in the High Castle, Parade’s End, The Pillars of the Earth amongst others, stars as Lord Melbourne, Victoria’s first prime minister.

Their intimate friendship became a popular source of gossip that threatened to destabilise the government of the time.

Jenna and Rufus are joined by a stellar ensemble cast including Paul Rhys (The Assets, Borgia, Being Human) as Sir John Conroy, the ambitious controller of the Duchess of Kent’s household.

Peter Firth (Spooks, Undeniable, World Without End) is the Queen’s conniving uncle the Duke of Cumberland and Catherine Flemming (Simones Labyrinth, No Place to Go) plays the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria’s mother.

Victoria will be made by Mammoth Screen, producers of Poldark (BBC One) and Endeavour (ITV), and the series is created and written by acclaimed novelist Daisy Goodwin, in her screenwriting debut.

Daisy will serve as executive producer alongside Dan McCulloch (Endeavour, Indian Summers) and Mammoth Screen’s managing director Damien Timmer (Parade’s End, Poldark).

The series will open with a 90-minute episode, followed by seven one-hour shows.

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