Catherine The Great first look: Dame Helen Mirren, 73, gets into character as Russian empress for new Sky drama

She's no stranger to playing royalty and cuts a distinctly regal figure. 

But that’s not all that makes Dame Helen Mirren perfect casting as Russia’s Catherine the Great.

The Oscar-winner, seen here in the first image of her as the 18th century empress in a forthcoming Sky drama, has Russian ancestry and was born Ilyena Mironov, the Daily Mail reports.

His son married a British woman and anglicised the family name to Mirren when the actress was ten.

Dame Helen, 73, who has played both Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II, is pictured in a grey wig and blue and gold dress in a recreation of Catherine’s private quarters. 

Sets have been modelled on Russian palaces, with paintings hand-copied from originals in the Hermitage museum.

The four-part drama will chart the latter years of Catherine’s 34-year reign and is being filmed in Russia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

Dame Helen was confirmed in January to be playing the role of the Russian Queen who had an extremely colourful love life.

Following the assassination of her husband Emperor Peter III in 1762, Catherine was rumoured to have had a string of male lovers and children through illicit affairs.

The series will particularly focus on Catherine's relationship with Russian statesman Grigory Potemkin, who will be played by Terminator Genisys star Jason Clarke.

It will be Helen's first major television role for 13 years, having last played Queen Elizabeth I in a Channel 4 miniseries.

Embodying Queen Elizabeth