Victoria star Jenna Coleman has urged viewers and Twitter critics who believe she is 'too pretty' to play the monarch to look past appearances – and brush up on their history.

Jenna had faced criticism after some viewers branded her 'too beautiful' for the role of the young Queen Victoria in ITV's new drama.

ITV

Related: ITV's Victoria review: Jenna Coleman's fantastic, but is it enough to take on Poldark?

Speaking on BBC Radio 1, the former Doctor Who star said: "I want to say 'Google young Victoria'.

"Portraits are subjective, the eye of the beholder perhaps, but you want people to look a bit further than that.

"In some portraits she looks very young and exuberant and others are not as flattering. When she gets older they perhaps become less flattering."

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Selected to fill the Downton Abbey-sized hole in ITV's autumn schedule for the next eight weeks, Victoria is the story of the early life of Queen Victoria from the day she came to the throne at the age of 18.

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Encompassing her marriage to Prince Albert and her dealings with scheming courtiers, politicians and family – and the occasional dodgy royal household member – it's a fascinating slice of history that was previously touched upon in the 2009 movie The Young Victoria.

Victoria is Jenna's big TV return after swapping the TARDIS for the Queen's tiara, and while she insisted that she might return to the BBC sci-fi series "in the future", it won't be "for a good while".

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