THE Crown, Netflix original story, now screening
LAVISH and honest – and rumoured to be the most expensive television program ever made, The Crown is indeed something special, from the impressive cast to the scenery and filming locations.
This is a show a cut above the usual. Like a big mini-series from the ’80s, this is occasion television.
It seems the Brits, in particular, are getting pretty good at stylish and impressive television programs which look more like extended movies than a soap opera slapped together in a couple of days and sent out for the masses.
This, like The Night Manager earlier on in the year, has a cinematic feel but the length of a television show. Screening in one-hour lots (but of course this is Netflix so you can binge the whole thing in one go) this is a long-playing movie – starring Clare Foy (Upstairs Downstairs), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), John Lithgow and Jeremy Northam.
The subject matter is at once familiar and yet not everyday with the story following the royal marriage of Elizabeth II and Phillip from the day before their wedding. The series is 10 episodes and it’s like a box of expensive chocolates – very hard to stop at one.
Executive director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott and the London Olympic Closing Ceremony) has carefully crafted an impressive piece of television.
Clare Foy is believable as the young princess thrust onto the throne without a lot of time and preparation, while Smith is well cast as her independent husband who is slowly giving up his own life for her.
Around them are case of characters we know from magazines and history books and it’s hard not to get caught up in the story.
It is also very hard not to fall in love with the no-nonsense Aileen Atkins (Doc Martin) as Queen Mary (she’d give Maggie Smith’s beloved Downton Abbey character a run for her money!)
And while it’s lavish (this is after all the royal family), The Crown doesn’t shy away from the grit that separates British shows from their more glitzy American cousins.
The King’s illness is shown in graphic detail right from the beginning, giving it a less than glamorous start and while this is jarring it’s also a way of reminding us that these are and were real people, making it just that bit more fascinating.
The plan is to follow the royal couple and their family right to close to the present day – so this won’t be a one-off, but that’s okay because once you open this box of chocolates you really don’t want to stop.
– Tania Phillips
