Renewed: Victoria

UK period drama Victoria, featuring Jenna Coleman, has won a second season.

The series from screenwriter Daisy Goodwin launched last month to 7.7 million UK viewers, making it the top rated ITV drama of the year so far.

ITV’s Director of Television, Kevin Lygo said: “Mammoth and Daisy Goodwin have brought the characters so vividly to life in this series, and we’re thrilled with the reception for Victoria. We’re pleased to be able to confirm that Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes will return to continue the story on ITV.”

Daisy Goodwin said: “Even though she reigned in the 19th Century, Victoria is a heroine for our times. In the next series she faces the very modern dilemma of how to juggle children with her husband and her job. As Victoria will discover, it’s hard to be a wife, a mother and ruler of the most powerful nation on earth!”

Victoria debuts in Australia on BBC First on October 16.