Jenna Coleman

Jenna Coleman’s first big break came when she joined the cast of the long-running British soap Emmerdale, and she went on to feature in several British dramas before landing the role that would make her a global star. In 2012, Coleman began her portrayal of Clara Oswald in the megahit Doctor Who, serving as the travel companion to the 11th and 12th Doctors. In her first television role since leaving the BBC series last year, Coleman is now embodying a young Queen Victoria. Already renewed for a second season, Victoria is a Mammoth Screen production for ITV and PBS’s Masterpiece. At MIPCOM, ITV Studios Global Entertainment announced it had secured deals for the show in some 150 markets. Coleman tells World Screen about understanding the monarch and the rewards of period drama.

WS: What was your initial reaction to the prospect of playing Queen Victoria?
COLEMAN: It was in discussion for quite a while. I began to do a bit of research and the more I read, I was fascinated and surprised by how much I didn’t know. I knew she became Queen at a very young age and she was spirited and passionate. But that iconic image we see is her all in black. We don’t consider the fact that an 18-year-old who didn’t have a father and had a very dysfunctional relationship with her mother, effectively, with the help of her governess and her dog Dash, became the most powerful woman in the world, overnight. At 4 foot 11 inches, at a time when women didn’t have the vote. She’s unapologetically herself, flawed, warts and all, and gets it very wrong but ultimately has this incredible heart and this unbelievable will. It’s fascinating and relatively untold.

WS: I understand Daisy Goodwin’s scripts were partly based on Victoria’s own diaries. How much did you tap into those sources, and what others did you use to understand who she was?
COLEMAN: There was a lot on the page, and Daisy sent me a lot of resources. I read numerous biographies. We don’t have footage of her, but what we do have is her voice on the page, and although they’ve been censored there’s so much you can grasp about her. And her sketches and watercolors. I found them incredibly useful—what she paints and how she sees the world and what interests her. It’s untouched totally. A lot of it is quite simple and honest, with a lack of state or pomp. That’s the one thing I always think about her. She’s very straight and forthright and obstinate.

WS: Tell us about her journey in season one, and what you know already about season two.
COLEMAN: Series one is very much girl to woman. You’ve got the battling of youth and responsibility, youth and power, queen and teenager. We covered about three years, the Coronation, meeting Albert—in terms of storytelling, there was quite a lot to get through to get to the first baby. It’s going to be interesting next year because it’s Victoria in married life. It’s a lot of the marriage battles that they had and navigating the day job with Victoria being the most powerful woman in the world, with a husband, being a fiercely independent woman. It’s quite a tumultuous and passionate marriage. And also socially what was going on at the time. I know Daisy is looking at the potato famine [in Ireland from 1845 to 1852]. Something we tried to do was keep the inventions coming forward—the railway, photography. So it’s a good examination of what was happening at the time socially.

WS: How great was it to have such an early renewal, just a few episodes into season one?
COLEMAN: We were all hoping for it. That’s the thing with a new show—you never entirely know how it’s going to be received. There is so much there. The story is just waiting to be told, and one of the main problems we have is there’s too much story. So it’s trying to get to the Great Exhibition [in 1851] and how do you pace it and they’ve got nine children to have! There are so many charming little day-to-day details, human stories, away from Court, just between them and family life. I’m excited to explore one of the greatest love stories that we’ve ever had, of two opposite people, young people—they’re 21 where we’ve left them [at the end of season one]. She’s still navigating ruling the United Kingdom. It makes for brilliant storytelling.

WS: Is it easier to get into character on a period piece, when you have the costumes and the setting, as compared with preparing for a role in a contemporary drama?
COLEMAN: To be honest I love anything that’s a bit further away from [myself]—I usually don’t like using my own accent. With Victoria we had contact lenses, we could play with her age and the sets. All of that helps. The best thing and the most interesting thing about it is the social protocol, the etiquette. That’s what I love about period drama—you have people who have to behave in the uniform way that is socially acceptable. What you’ve got is the human underneath wanting to be [themselves]. That’s what I love about Victoria in particular. There is a way in which she is supposed to behave, and yet you’ve always got the human inside fighting away to be impulsive, to not follow those social conditions of the time. I love that battle. That’s why I love period drama.