In January 2017, more than 16.2 million viewers tuned in for the premiere season of “Victoria,” making it one of the highest-rated dramas on PBS — second only to “Downton Abbey.”
Revisit the series’ dramatic second season Sunday nights at 7 p.m., and make sure you’re all caught up before the Season 3 premiere on Jan. 13. You can also revisit the entire series to date by downloading the PBS app or watching online via Passport.
In Season 2, the cast, led by Jenna Coleman as the young queen, is joined by legendary actress Dame Diana Rigg, who plays the court’s new Mistress of the Robes — a fount of old-fashioned good sense for the young mother. Victoria herself is adapting to motherhood after the birth of her first child. Meanwhile, the disaster of the Anglo-Afghan War unfolds abroad, and the catastrophic Irish potato famine begins to wreak havoc. In other foreign affairs, a royal state visit to France is on the horizon.
Most intriguing to Prince Albert is the budding Industrial Revolution, which is now sweeping England. Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace are collaborating on a mechanical calculator, while other bright minds of the age are contemplating a miraculous electrical telegraph and even a tunnel under the Thames.