The Crown season one was the most expensive TV series ever made. It was a run-away success for the streaming network Netflix which spent £100 million (£100 million!) on the drama chronicling the early lives of the Royal Family.

There is to be six series of The Crown (each 10 episodes long). The news has just been announced, that the highly anticipated series is due to arrive on our screens on the 8 December. Set your timers.

The newly released trailer lets us into some of the season's secrets. Expect to discover a season that clings closely to the storyline of the Queen and her family members as they tried to get through life in the 60s. Clearly, the series explores the relationship between the Queen and Prince Phillip as it get strained by Phillip's infidelities (a touchy subject – Phillip was operating in the days before a rabid paparazzi, so his skeletons, for the most part, have disappointingly remained well hidden in the cupboard).

As before, the show will star Claire Foy and Matt Smith (who return to play the Queen and Prince Phillip). Rumour has it, they will also be joined by Michael C. Hall and Jodi Balfour as President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, though, unfortunately, we weren't treated to an appearance in the trailer.

Michael C. Hall and Jodi Balfour

There's no hint, yet, of how and if the Kennedies are going to appear in the series, but it seems impossible to avoid them altogether. Michael C. Hall is most famous for playing the twisted antihero Dexter Morgan in Showtime's crime mystery drama Dexter. He will be accompanied by South African actress Jodi Balfour who, in true The Crown style boasts a striking resemblance to her real-life character Jackie Kennedy.

Season two comes less than a year after Natalie Portman's groundbreaking portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in Jackie shook our cinemas and earned her an Oscar nomination (we'll find out whether she won on the 26 February). Comparisons between Balfour and Portman will be unavoidable.

Don't wish the summer away, but we're sure excited to welcome those winter months and all the TV binge-watching they'll bring.