{"id":1244561,"date":"2022-11-05T12:32:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T12:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/05\/the-crown-seven-takeaways-from-the-latest-series-of-netflixs-royal-drama\/"},"modified":"2022-11-05T12:32:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-05T12:32:55","slug":"the-crown-seven-takeaways-from-the-latest-series-of-netflixs-royal-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/05\/the-crown-seven-takeaways-from-the-latest-series-of-netflixs-royal-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crown: Seven takeaways from the latest series of Netflix’s royal drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Season five of Netflix\u2019s The Crown has already created its own drama before its release on Wednesday, causing controversy over its depiction of the royal family.<\/p>\n

Netflix defended its show as a \u201cfictional dramatisation\u201d, after\u00a0Sir John Major\u00a0and\u00a0Dame Judi Dench\u00a0questioned its accuracy.<\/p>\n

It has also\u00a0added a disclaimer\u00a0to its marketing for the show, saying it is \u201cinspired by real-life events\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent my Friday night binge-watching all 10 new episodes, to find out just what this new series is like \u2013 here are my takeaways.<\/p>\n

1. It\u2019s hard to tell fact from fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jonathan
Sir Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip with Natascha McElhone as Penny Knatchbull<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The closer this series gets to the present day, the more the truth and and the blurring of fact and fiction matters.<\/p>\n

This season is set in the 90s and the Queen \u2013 played magnificently for the first time by Imelda Staunton \u2013 is in her mid-60s. Her children\u2019s marriages are failing and, controversially, the show suggests an affair between Prince Philip and Lady Romsey, 32 years his junior.<\/p>\n

The Duke of Edinburgh, played by Jonathan Pryce, denies it, but in a testing scene, he tells the Queen of his \u201cdisenchantment\u201d with the marriage. But The Crown is so plausible and so human that it\u2019s always been impossible as a general viewer to distinguish drama from reality.<\/p>\n

In the absence of royal-related facts that we will likely never know, this fiction fills the void, and for many becomes the truth.<\/p>\n

So soon after the Queen\u2019s death, and with so many of the characters still living, that feels more difficult to justify editorially.<\/p>\n

2. John Major\u2019s portrayal is a revelation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jonny
Jonny Lee Miller plays then Prime Minister John Major<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former prime minister has attacked this series for suggesting Prince Charles wanted to force the Queen to abdicate, calling that \u201cmalicious nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n

But in The Crown, the politician, once ridiculed by Spitting Image for being dull and boring (and eating peas), is anything but.<\/p>\n

Brilliantly brought to the screen by Jonny Lee Miller, he\u2019s highly regarded by the Queen \u2013 a wise voice of the people and a diplomatic go-between in the messy divorce-wrangling between Charles and Diana.<\/p>\n

(And there are no peas in sight when his wife, Norma, played by Flora Montgomery, serves up his dinner in episode nine).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a revelation.<\/p>\n

3. Elizabeth Debicki steals the show<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth
Elizabeth Debicki said she was initially overwhelmed at the prospect of playing Diana, Princess of Wales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The voice (hesitant, breathy, the right side of posh), the dipped head as she looks up through her eyelashes, the haircut, the expressions and, of course, the clothes; it\u2019s all so Diana.<\/p>\n

While Dominic West does his best to inhabit the character of (the then) Prince Charles, he\u2019s too suave and too obviously handsome to be entirely believable.<\/p>\n

Debicki is perfect.<\/p>\n

4. The BBC comes under scrutiny<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Imelda
Imelda Staunton takes over the role of the Queen from Olivia Colman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The BBC is a character in series five and it doesn\u2019t make comfortable viewing.<\/p>\n

The Queen\u2019s loyalty to the BBC is juxtaposed with the bigger, damaging story of the interview Princess Diana gave to Panorama and the controversies surrounding how it was obtained.<\/p>\n

The BBC has said it will never broadcast the interview again, but The Crown recreates the scenes.<\/p>\n

Any drama about the royal family from that time would likely do the same, but it\u2019s hard not to imagine the pain it will cause those involved and is grist to the mill of those who say The Crown should have stopped long before it reached such a recent and difficult period.<\/p>\n

The advent of satellite television and what that means for the BBC also is a thread that runs through this series.<\/p>\n

The Queen is resistant to changing her TV until Prince William tells her if she gets a satellite dish, she\u2019ll be able to watch a racing channel any time she wants.<\/p>\n

5. Money has been no object<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Royal
Season five depicts the Royal Family during the 90s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Crown is believed to cost around \u00a310m an episode (though that\u2019s always been denied by its creator and writer Peter Morgan).<\/p>\n

In this series, it appears again money has been no object.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re offered sumptuous stand-ins for royal houses and palaces, a recreation of the Hong Kong handover ceremony and we see Her Majesty in London\u2019s Guildhall making her famous \u201cannus horribilis\u201d speech.<\/p>\n

The (fading) Royal Yacht Britannia becomes a metaphor through the series for a sense that the Queen herself is becoming out of touch, obsolete and irrelevant.<\/p>\n

I can see why the writers leapt on that narrative \u2013 the yacht was decommissioned in 1997 in the first year of Tony Blair\u2019s administration. But the parallels feel overdone, particularly in light of the real Queen\u2019s subsequently long and lauded reign.<\/p>\n

6. Does it show Britain stuck in the past?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Imelda
Imelda Staunton shows the Queen in public and private moments<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Crown affects how Britain is viewed internationally, but it probably only confirms what people already think.<\/p>\n

The Britain of the programme is awash with regal splendour. We see fine dining and the classrooms of Eton; the English are depicted as lovers of game shooting and good manners.<\/p>\n

For some, these portrayals mean we\u2019ll be seen as a country stuck in the past, for others as one informed by a rich history.<\/p>\n

Some of the tensions in series five concern whether it was the Queen or Prince Charles who had a better sense of what modern Britain represented.<\/p>\n

In real life, the pageantry of Her Majesty\u2019s funeral showcased the country to the world. In its own way, The Crown could be applauded for also keeping Britain on the world stage.<\/p>\n

7. It reflects our own complexities<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dominic
Dominic West as Prince Charles, as he was known then<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Humans are complex and the characters in The Crown are no exception.<\/p>\n

Much of the controversy around this series has been about whether Prince, now King, Charles is unfairly portrayed in his relationship with Princess Diana, and as he tries to find a role for himself as Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n

After five series of The Crown, my sense is that writer Peter Morgan\u2019s skill is that he shows us the complexity of what it means to be human.<\/p>\n

He falls in love with his characters and can\u2019t help but infuse them with real depth of emotion.<\/p>\n

Only the most fervent anti-monarchist would fail to respond.<\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Season five of Netflix\u2019s The Crown has already created its own drama before its release on Wednesday, causing controversy over its depiction of the royal family. Netflix defended its show as a \u201cfictional dramatisation\u201d, after\u00a0Sir John Major\u00a0and\u00a0Dame Judi Dench\u00a0questioned its accuracy. It has also\u00a0added a disclaimer\u00a0to its marketing for the show, saying it is \u201cinspired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1244565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8733,637,1942,9358,5466,1692,15690],"class_list":["post-1244561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","tag-crown","tag-drama","tag-latest","tag-netflixs","tag-royal","tag-series","tag-takeaways"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}