Royal Dramas to Rule

The same week TVNZ 1 premieres season two of Victoria, Prime will launch the sequel to The White Queen, The White Princess.

The young Queen Victoria drama will reign from September 10 (8.30 Sundays) and The White Princess will replace Poldark from September 12 (8.30 Tuesdays).

And returning to Netflix for its second season from December 8 will be The Crown.

The Express says Victoria writer Daisy Goodwin has teased “a decade of revolution, famine and unrest – and for Victoria, much childbearing” to come in the new season, which began Sunday in the UK (where it was out-rated by new JK Rowling drama Strike).

Digital Spy thought it “sharper and funnier” than the first series but The Telegraph dubbed it “an underwhelming return, though it’s as impressive as before”.

The White Princess opens with England united by the marriage of Princess Elizabeth of York and King Henry VII but, according to the blurb, “their personal and political rift runs deep and the divide between them threatens to tear the kingdom apart once again”.

The series was well reviewed in the US, where Variety hailed it as “an enjoyable, ridiculous romp through the early days of the first Tudor king” and the Wall Street Journal, “a tapestry of soap and backstage politics, with some really marvelous performances”.