British actress Nell Hudson

Nell Hudson has found fame on both sides of the Atlantic playing a role in an historical drama that, ironically, is a woman who didn't exist.

She played Nancy Skerrett, Queen Victoria's dresser, on the British ITV series "Victoria," aired in the United States on PBS.

While Queen Victoria did have a dresser named Skerrett, her first name was Marianne and she worked for the queen from 1837 to 1862.  In "Victoria," Nancy Skerrett quit to get married in the late 1840s or early 1850s (like so many fictionalized versions of history, the time frame of the series is loose) and died from drinking contaminated water shortly after her wedding.

In the series, she married the queen's chef, Charles Elmé Francatelli - who, it turns out, was a real person.

 

Nell Hudson, though, remains active on British television.  She's appeared on the period series "Call the Midwife" and in the crime comedy-drama series "Agatha Raisin."  She can also be seen on the BBC drama "The Informer," available in America on Amazon Prime Video.