Olivia Colman talks dramatic weight changes for playing Queens Anne and Elizabeth

Olivia Colman has said she had to yo-yo between putting on the pounds to play Queen Anne and losing a lot to play Queen Elizabeth II - admitting that she wouldn’t sign up to another role that required her to put on weight.

The star had to gain lots of weight for her Oscar-winning role as Queen Anne in film The Favourite, which left her some distance from how she needed to look as our current Queen when she joined series three of Netflix hit The Crown.

Read more: Olivia Colman claims she was drunk during her Oscars speech

Colman told OK! magazine of playing Queen Elizabeth II: “Well I'm not supposed to smile as much as I do, that was fun. I had to put on a lot of weight for Queen Anne in The Favourite but I had to lose a lot of weight for this.

“Well, I didn't have to because everyone was very polite and nice, but I said, ‘I need to lose weight’. They were very sweet and supportive about it. It would have felt a bit wrong to play Queen Elizabeth II as the same size as Queen Anne.”

But she added that the strict dieting had been a tough call in between shoots, admitting: “I probably wouldn't say yes to putting on weight again for a job because it'as been very difficult to lose.”

Read more: The Crown - who plays who in series 3

Colman is the second actor to take on the lead role of the monarch for The Crown, replacing Claire Foy who has left the series now that the Queen has aged in the story.

She is joined in series three by Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret.

Bonham Carter has said that she consulted a medium about playing Princess Margaret, but Colman told OK! that she wouldn’t consider using the same tactic, adding “each to their own”.