Stay Tuned

The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, January 13, 2017 2 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media S ince "Downton Abbey" ended its run last year, a notable hole was left in the hearts of fans of the hit "Masterpiece" series. Happily, there's a new period piece stepping in to fill the void. "Victoria" is a historical drama based on the titular Queen Vic- toria, whose long reign, pas- sionate marriage and large brood of children provide no shortage of material worthy of prime time. The series pre- miered in the U.K. last summer, and makes its North American debut Sunday, Jan. 15, on PBS. If you have an image in your head of Queen Victoria, it's probably similar to mine: an austere and formidable mid- dle-aged woman, clad in black and lace, looking quite impor- tant if not exactly a barrel of laughs. To be sure, she was one of the most powerful women in the world during her fa- mously long reign and went into a period of heavy mourn- ing after the death of her be- loved husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, from which she never fully emerged (hence all the black). Victoria held the crown for 63 years, making her the lon- gest reigning British monarch until her great-great-grand- daughter, the current Queen Elizabeth II, overtook her in September 2015. Her rule was a time of much cultural, politi- cal and industrial change in the United Kingdom, and saw a great expansion of the British Empire. She was, however, just 18 years old when she inherited the throne in 1837, tiny and sheltered at just 4-foot-11. She's portrayed in "Victoria" by Jenna Coleman ("Doctor Who"), and the first season ex- amines these earliest years of her reign, from her accession to the throne and her impor- tant relationship with Prime Minister and mentor Lord Mel- bourne (Rufus Sewell, "The Pil- lars of the Earth") to her early marriage to Albert (Tom Hughes, "The Game") and the birth of their first child. The series also features Dan- iela Holtz ("The Forest for the Trees," 2003) as Baroness Le- hzen, Victoria's governess who was instrumental in her up- bringing; Paul Rhys ("Borgia") as the adversarial John Conroy; and Catherine Flemming ("Si- mones Labyrinth," 2003) as Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, with whom she had a less-than-ideal relationship. The freshman series com- pleted its U.K. run back in the fall, and, aside from the odd critique of historical liberties taken, has garnered favorable reviews. It drew an average of 7.6 million viewers, regularly beating fellow period piece and time-slot competitor "Pol- dark," airing on BBC1. The show has secured a second season renewal along with a Christmas special, which will air later this year. Stateside, it's set to air in the time-slot that "Downton Abbey" held for six years, and it has equally high hopes this side of the pond. Depicting real people and events always presents a par- ticular set of challenges, with the added pressure of getting all the details right while still delivering a story people are actually interested in tuning in to. Coleman dove head first into her research of the role, uncovering a good deal about the queen that she never knew before; the queen we see on screen may come as a surprise to many viewers as well. "The role has been quite a revelation actually, and I'm quite surprised at how little I knew," the actress revealed in an interview with The Indepen- dent. "A lot of people instinc- tively say, 'You can't play Victo- ria. ... She's stern and old and wore black for the rest of her life.' And actually, I don't think people are quite aware of how vivid she is and what a lust for life she has." The series sees a young and green queen take the throne and step up to the challenge of proving herself worthy of it, age and gender aside. Lacking political experience, she relies heavily on the advice of Lord Melbourne, and their friend- ship plays an important role in her early reign. Her infatuation with her mentor — younger and more handsome than the real, middle-aged Lord Mel- bourne, who was likely more of a father figure to the queen — makes for good TV, but the real love story is between Victoria and her new husband. The marriage between Queen Vic- toria and Prince Albert is nota- ble for being a love match, as opposed to one made purely for political purposes, as was usually the case with mon- archs of the past. In the series, Victoria struggles to prove not only that she is fit to rule the British Empire, but that her husband is right for it — and for her — as well. While the queen is inargu- ably the main focus of the se- ries, certain storylines go be- yond her and her fellow no- bles. "It's a household. It's a piece about Victoria and her in- ner and outer life, but also about Victoriana, I suppose," Coleman explained in the same interview. "For example, we have a chef, and you see the invention of hot chocolate, you see photography coming in, you see railways starting to appear, you see all the things that shaped the world as it is now." If the series is as popular with North American audienc- es as it's been with the Brits, "Victoria" is sure to prove a most satisfactory replacement for the dearly departed "Downton Abbey." The new "Masterpiece" series pre- mieres Sunday, Jan. 15, on PBS. coverstory Jenna Coleman and Daniela Holtz in a scene from "Victoria" Donning the crown 'Victoria' premieres in old 'Downton Abbey' time-slot By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: I noticed a similarity between the Quonset hut setting in the Clint Eastwood film "Heartbreak Ridge" and the '60s television sitcom "Gomer Pyle: USMC." Were both filmed at the same location? A: You've got sharp eyes — both the 1986 Clint East- wood drama "Heartbreak Ridge" and the 1964 to 1969 Jim Nabors sitcom "Gomer Pyle: USMC" were filmed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. The two are, of course, very different, but both treat the Corps with due reverence — "Gomer Pyle: USMC" didn't take its main character very seriously, but it did treat his vocation with respect. So much so, in fact, that Nabors was made an honorary Marine in 2001. You could make a whole film festival out of things that have been shot at the sprawling base. Among the other ti- tles filmed at Camp Pendleton are the 1949 John Wayne classic "Sands of Iwo Jima," the 1976 drama "Midway" and the big-budget 2001 film "Pearl Harbor." The Quonset huts you mention have a fairly proud histo- ry themselves, particularly at Camp Pendleton. Though they get their name from a Navy construction facility at Quonset Point in Rhode Island, Pendleton once had the largest number of the iconic corrugated-steel structures. And they haven't just housed Marines and actors — in the 1970s, the huts at Pendleton served as a Vietnamese refugee camp, housing as many as 50,000 men, women and children. Q: Someone told me that Adrien Brody did an ad for a clothing company recently. Is that true? I never saw it on TV. A: You never saw Adrien Brody's Christmas ad for H&M clothing on television because true art can't be contained to 30 seconds. That's a little sarcastic, but the fact is this was no ordi- nary TV commercial. Not only did it feature film star Adrien Brody, but it was directed by his frequent collaborator, art- film darling Wes Anderson. The ad clocks in at nearly four minutes — almost eight times as long as a normal TV spot, too long for a commer- cial break on TV. Indeed, H&M, the clothing company be- ing advertised, doesn't even call it an ad or a commercial, it's a "short film." H&M's release about the ad/film directs readers to You- Tube.com to see it, which suggests the company's inten- tion was to generate online viral fame, rather than tradi- tional TV awareness. It all takes place on an old-timey train, of which Brody is the conductor. He has the unfortunate job of announcing to his passengers — all of whom are clad in H&M's latest clothing line, by the way — that the train will be late and they'll all miss Christmas. Fans of Brody and Anderson will of course recall that this is not the first time they've paired up on a quaint- looking train — they previously did so in the 2007 film "The Darjeeling Limited." Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. hollywoodQ&A

• Cover