Hot Picks: Royal Mob

Commissioned by Sky History in the UK to increase its younger female viewership, Royal Mob is a hybrid drama-documentary about the royal family wranglings that ultimately changed the shape of the modern world. It’s told through the story of Queen Victoria’s vivacious granddaughters, the Hesse sisters, who married into dynasties across Europe.

“This is a royal family saga, a rich romp through Victorian history that culminates in World War I,” says eOne vice-president of acquisitions Kate Cundall.

The series is created by Nutopia, which revived the docudrama genre with The Last Czars and African Queens, both available on Netflix.

Led by Josie Dunn as Princess Victoria, the female figures at the heart of the story shed a new light on this tinderbox time.

Showrunner Tom Stubberfield says: “It offers a new perspective on these major events, and it gives women agency in history when so many historical events are told from the perspective of male characters.”

The dramatised events are corroborated by on-screen interludes from historians such as Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Miranda Carter and Emma Dabiri.

In the spirit of accuracy, writers Jamie Brittain (Skins) and Abigail Wilson (Ten Percent) took little creative licence. “If a character wasn’t at an event, we don’t place them there just because it was handy for the story,” says Stubberfield. “It’s the drama that leads the storytelling, and the experts talk back to what’s been revealed in the drama.”

The inclusion of historians reflects today’s TV habit of watching biopics and real-life dramas while Googling, to sort out fact from fiction. Stubberfield explains: “People who like history want to know what actually happened, not someone’s interpretation. With Royal Mob, you get the immersive drama, and at the same time you know it’s factually tight because you’ve got experts telling you so.”

Royal Mob’s dual genre allows for a crossover appeal. For history fans, the format brings yesteryear events to life, and for drama fans, the family feuding and regal lavishness is given a unique twist with historical accuracy.

That is borne out by the ratings: Royal Mob was Sky History’s highest-rated show of 2022 among both ABC1 adults and female viewers. “We met the challenge and produced an entertaining, accessible and a fairly unique drama-doc series,” says Stubberfield.

Continued interest in the British royals – as seen with the success of programmes like Victoria and The Crown – suggests a global appetite for the subject matter. And there’s added relevance as “almost every royal family in Europe now is related to Queen Victoria,” says Cundall.

The crossover appeal also means the market for Royal Mob is not limited to history channels.

“If you’re an international history channel, it’s interesting because it shows the context,” says Cundall. “But Royal Mob is much broader – this is not just cable-channel history, or ‘old man’ history. This is history that everyone will enjoy because of the way it’s been told.”