The life of Queen Victoria is to be dramatized* on ITV, starting with her ascension* to the throne at age 18.

    The eight-hour series will be the screenwriting debut for novelist Daisy Goodwin and will be made by Mammoth Screen, the producers of BBC One’s Poldark and ITV’s Endeavor.

    Steve November, ITV’s drama director, said, “She’s a vibrant, fascinating character whose legacy lives on today.”

    Goodwin added, “Victoria was the first woman to have it all.”

    She said her interest in the queen was sparked while attending university when she read her diaries: “All 62 million words of them give an astonishingly vivid picture of her transformation from rebellious teenager into, to my mind, our greatest Queen.

    “She’s a woman whose personality leaps off the page — a tiny 4 foot 11 teenager who overnight became the most powerful woman in the world, and her candor* and spirit makes for an irresistible heroine.

    “She had a passionate marriage, nine children and was grandmother to most of Europe’s royalty, but she also had a job, being Queen of the most important nation in the world.”

    November added that the series was “a chance to see the Victorian age through the eyes of the Queen herself for the first time.” Queen Victoria was on the throne for 63 years until 1901.

    Casting is under way for the drama, which starts filming in locations around the United Kingdom in September.(SD-Agencies)