E! has ordered its first ever scripted series.
The network announced Thursday that it has given the greenlight to The Royals, an hour-long drama about a fictional British royal family set in contemporary London. The series will be written, directed and produced by Mark Schwahn and is scheduled to premiere in 2015.
Brian Robbins and Joe Davola will executive produce the series, which will be produced by Lionsgate and shot in the U.K. Elizabeth Hurley will star as the Queen of England.
“We are excited that E!’s first original scripted series will transport viewers into a world that they are already intensely interested in, but reality cameras would never give them access to. The Royals will offer a fictional look behind the very public gilded façade of the palace gates to imagine the private, lush, fun, sexy world of the most-watched celebrity family on the planet,” said Jeff Olde, executive VP of original programming and development for E!. "It's a perfect series to introduce E! viewers to scripted pop culture programming on the network."
