What time is Victoria on TV this Christmas?
Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes return in this two-hour festive special on ITV
Elizabeth II may grace our screens for her traditional Queen's Speech, but there'll be more than one Queen on TV this festive season – because ITV drama Victoria will air its first-ever Christmas special.
Expect plenty of snow, sledging and candlelight in this action-packed two-hour episode...
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When is the Victoria Christmas special on TV?
Victoria's Christmas special will air on Christmas Day at 9pm on ITV.
Who will star in the Victoria Christmas special?
Jenna Coleman will, of course, return as Queen Victoria – with Tom Hughes as her husband Prince Albert.
Also on the scene will be Prince Ernest (David Oakes) who we last saw fighting a secret battle with syphilis. He'll be spending Christmas with his love interest Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland (Margaret Clunie), but things may not go smoothly: she was heartbroken when he backed out of his marriage proposal – but wouldn't say why.
Downstairs, we'll see our old favourites Skerrett (Nell Hudson) and Francatelli (Ferdinand Kingsley) celebrating Christmas with the rest of the staff.
But there are three major characters we WON'T be seeing this Christmas. Baroness Lehzen (Daniela Holtz) was fired at the end of the last series and will be spending her first lonely Weihnachten back in Germany, having clashed with Prince Albert one too many times. Back in England, poor heartbroken Lord Alfred Paget (Jordan Waller) will be pining for his would-be lover Edward Drummond (Leo Suter), who was fatally shot during the series finale.
And will Rufus Sewell return as fan favourite Lord M? He's already said his goodbyes to the Queen, so that's pretty unlikely...
What will happen in the Victoria Christmas special?
Creator Daisy Goodwin revealed she was writing a special episode for Christmas 2017 over a year ago. Speaking at the Radio Times Television Festival, she said: “I know it’s going to be utterly brilliant and there’ll be a lot of snow in it.”
One thing we’ll definitely see is Prince Albert getting into the Christmas spirit – perhaps a bit too much.
“All his children had individual Christmas trees,” Goodwin told RadioTimes.com, “so he was the original ‘Christmas-zilla’, I think is the word!”
Where is Victoria filmed?
Much of Victoria is filmed in Yorkshire, with the interiors of Harewood House standing in for Buckingham Palace in many scenes. Carlton Towers is used as Windsor Castle and Beverley Minster becomes Westminster Abbey.
