The Crown is a historical drama television series, created and principally written by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix. The show is a biographical story about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The first season covers the period from her marriage to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 to the disintegration of her sister Princess Margaret's engagement to Peter Townsend in 1955. The second season covers the period from the Suez Crisis in 1956 to the retirement of the Queen's third Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, in 1963 and the birth of Prince Edward in 1964. The third season will continue on from 1964, covering Harold Wilson's two terms as the Queen's Prime Minister until 1976, while the fourth season will see Margaret Thatcher's Prime Ministership and a focus on Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Crown evolved out of Morgan's 2006 film The Queen and 2013 stage play The Audience. The series is intended to last 60 episodes over six seasons, with 10 one-hour episodes per season, covering Elizabeth's life from her younger years to her reign, and with new actors being cast every two seasons. Claire Foy portrays the Queen in the first two seasons, alongside Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. Olivia Colman will take over for Foy as the Queen in the third and fourth seasons. Filming for the series takes place at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, with location shooting at various locations throughout the United Kingdom.
The first season was released on Netflix on November 4, 2016, while the second was released on December 8, 2017. The series has been renewed for a third and fourth season. The Crown has received widespread critical acclaim for its acting, directing, writing, cinematography, production values, and the relatively accurate historical accounts of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Significant praise in the first season was directed towards the performances of Foy in the leading role and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. The series has received several industry nominations and awards, including winning Best Actress and Best Actor at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards for Foy and Lithgow, respectively, and receiving thirteen nominations for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series.
Video The Crown (TV series)
Premise
The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 to the present day. The first season, which sees Claire Foy portraying the Queen in the early part of her reign, depicts events up to 1955, with Winston Churchill resigning as Prime Minister and the Queen's sister Princess Margaret deciding not to marry Peter Townsend. The second season covers from the Suez Crisis in 1956 through the retirement of the Queen's third Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, in 1963 following the Profumo affair political scandal and the birth of Prince Edward in 1964.
The third season will see Olivia Colman portraying the Queen, and will cover the two terms of Harold Wilson as the Queen's Prime Minister, starting in 1964 with his first, until 1976 at the end of his second. It will also include Princess Margaret's five-year affair with baronet and gardening expert Roddy Llewellyn, and see the introduction of Camilla Parker Bowles and Diana Spencer. Spencer will be more of a focus in the fourth season, which also sees Margaret Thatcher's Prime Ministership.
- Greg Wise as Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Philip's ambitious uncle and great-grandson of Queen Victoria
- Jared Harris as King George VI, Elizabeth's father, known to his family as Bertie
- John Lithgow as Winston Churchill, the Queen's first Prime Minister
- Alex Jennings as Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, who had abdicated in favour of his younger brother Bertie to marry Wallis Simpson; known to his family as David
- Lia Williams as Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, Edward's American wife
- Anton Lesser as Harold Macmillan, who follows Anthony Eden as Prime Minister (season 2)
- Matthew Goode as Antony Armstrong-Jones, known as Tony, a society photographer who marries Princess Margaret (season 2)
Featured
The below actors are credited in the opening titles of single episodes in which they play a significant role.
- Stephen Dillane as Graham Sutherland, a noted artist who paints a portrait of the aging Churchill
- Gemma Whelan as Patricia Campbell, a secretary whom Altrincham works with and types up his editorial
- John Heffernan as Lord Altrincham, a writer who penned a scathing criticism of the Queen
- Paul Sparks as Billy Graham, a prominent American minister with whom Elizabeth consults
- Michael C. Hall as John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States who visits the Queen
- Jodi Balfour as Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady of the United States
- Burghart Klaussner as Dr. Kurt Hahn, the founder of Gordonstoun, where Philip and Charles went to school
- Finn Elliot as school-aged Prince Philip
- Julian Baring as school-aged Prince Charles
Recurring
Introduced in season one
Introduced in season two
- Chloe Pirrie as Eileen Parker
- Lucy Russell as Lady Mountbatten
- Sylvestra Le Touzel as Dorothy Macmillan
- Lyla Barrett-Rye as young Princess Anne
Maps The Crown (TV series)
Episodes
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2017)
Production
Development
Peter Morgan, who wrote the 2006 film The Queen and the 2013 stage play The Audience, is the main scriptwriter for The Crown. The directors of the television series who were also involved in the stage production are Stephen Daldry, Philip Martin, Julian Jarrold, and Benjamin Caron. The first 10-part season was the most expensive drama produced by Netflix and Left Bank Pictures to date, costing at least £100 million. A second season was commissioned, with the series intended to span 60 episodes over six seasons. By October 2017, "early production" had begun on an anticipated third and fourth season, and by the following January, Netflix confirmed the series had been renewed for a third and fourth season.
Casting
By November 2014, Claire Foy had entered negotiations to portray Queen Elizabeth II in the series. The following May, Vanessa Kirby was in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret. In June 2015, John Lithgow was cast as Winston Churchill, and Matt Smith was cast as Prince Phillip; Foy was confirmed to be portraying Queen Elizabeth II. Also starring in the first season include Victoria Hamilton, Jared Harris, and Eileen Atkins.
The series producers will recast some roles with older actors every two seasons, as the series timeline moves forward and the characters age. In October 2017, Olivia Colman was cast as Queen Elizabeth II for the third and fourth seasons. By January 2018, Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany were in negotiations to portray Princess Margaret and Prince Philip, respectively, for the third and fourth seasons.
Filming
An estimated 25% of the first season was filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, with the remainder filmed on location, with the season filmed over 152 days. Sets for private quarters, the interior of a private jet, the cabinet room, and the exterior of 10 Downing Street were built at Elstree Studios, while Lancaster House, Wrotham Park and Wilton House were used for scenes to double as Buckingham Palace. Ely Cathedral stood in for Westminster Abbey, while filming in South Africa doubled as Kenya. Additional filming locations in the United Kingdom included Eltham Palace, the Royal Naval College, Goldsmiths' Hall, Shoreham Airport, New Slains Castle, Balmoral Castle, Cruden Bay, Lyceum Theatre, Loseley Park, Hatfield House, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Southwark Cathedral, Ardverikie House, Englefield House, and Glenfeshie Estate. Filming on the second season began in early October 2016.
Historical accuracy
The show has been interpreted as perpetuating the idea that the Queen and Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill forced Princess Margaret to give up her plan of marrying Group Captain Peter Townsend. Evidence is clear that efforts were under way to prevent any further delay of the marriage. In contradiction to the TV dramatization this plan would have allowed Princess Margaret to keep her royal title and her civil list allowance, stay in the country and even continue with her public duties. In the dramatization, the Queen is seen telling her sister that if she marries Townsend she will no longer be a member of the family because of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
The re-enactment of the King's surgery, originally performed by Sir Clement Price Thomas, to remove a lung tumour, was researched and planned by Pankaj Chandak, specialist registrar in transplant surgery, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London. Mr Chandak and his surgical team then became part of the real scene. The production team donated the surgical model of King George VI to the Gordon Museum of Pathology to be used as teaching aid.
Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal was critical of the historical accuracy of the series.
Release
The series' first two episodes were released theatrically in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2016. The first season was released worldwide in its entirety on November 4, 2016. The second season was released on December 8, 2017.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 90% approval rating based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Powerful performances and lavish cinematography make The Crown a top-notch production worthy of its grand subject." On Metacritic, the series holds a score of 81 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
The Guardian's TV critic Lucy Mangan praised the series and wrote that "Netflix can rest assured that its £100m gamble has paid off. This first series, about good old British phlegm from first to last, is the service's crowning achievement so far." Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Ben Lawrence said, "The Crown is a PR triumph for the Windsors, a compassionate piece of work that humanises them in a way that has never been seen before. It is a portrait of an extraordinary family, an intelligent comment on the effects of the constitution on their personal lives and a fascinating account of postwar Britain all rolled into one." Chief television critic Jaci Stephen of The Mail on Sunday lauded the series and said, "Faultless is the only word for The Crown with its exquisite writing and magnificent acting." Writing for The Boston Globe, Matthew Gilbert lauded the series saying, "The show, created and written by Peter Morgan of The Queen and Frost/Nixon is thoroughly engaging, gorgeously shot, beautifully acted, rich in the historical events of postwar England, and designed with a sharp eye to psychological nuance." Vicki Hyman of The Star-Ledger said, "A sumptuous, stately but never dull look inside the life of Queen Elizabeth (Claire Foy)." The A.V. Club's Gwen Ihnat said, "The Crown easily rises far above, adding a cinematic quality to a complex and intricate time for an intimate family. The performers and creators are seemingly up for the task."
The Wall Street Journal critic Dorothy Rabinowitz said, "We're clearly meant to see the duke [of Windsor] as a wastrel with heart. It doesn't quite come off--Mr. Jennings is far too convincing as an empty-hearted scoundrel--but it's a minor flaw in this superbly sustained work." Television critic Robert Lloyd writing for Los Angeles Times said, "As television it's excellent--beautifully mounted, movingly played and only mildly melodramatic." Hank Stuever of The Washington Post also reviewed the series positively: "Pieces of The Crown are more brilliant on their own than they are as a series, taken in as shorter, intently focused films like The Queen and another Morgan achievement, the play and film versions of Frost/Nixon." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times said, "This is a thoughtful series that lingers over death rather than using it for shock value; one that finds its story lines in small power struggles rather than gruesome palace coups.". The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg reviewed the series positively and said, "The first chapter of Peter Morgan's chronicle of the rule of Queen Elizabeth II remains gripping across the entirety of the 10 episodes made available to critics, finding both emotional heft in Elizabeth's youthful ascension and unexpected suspense in matters of courtly protocol and etiquette." Other publications such as USA Today, Indiewire, The Atlantic, CNN and Variety all reviewed the series positively.
Some were more critical towards the show. In a less enthusiastic review for Time magazine, Daniel D'Addario wrote, "The show will be compared to Downton Abbey, but that late soap opera was able to invent ahistorical or at least unexpected notes, [Claire] Foy struggles mightily, but she's given little: Avoiding her children, her husband, and her subjects in favor of meetings at which she either acquiesces to her advisors or puts off acquiescing until fifteen minutes later, The Crown's Elizabeth is more than unknowable. She's a bore". Vulture's Matt Zoller Seitz quipped, "The Crown never entirely figures out how to make the political and domestic drama genuinely dramatic, much less bestow complexity on characters outside England's innermost circle." Verne Gay of Newsday said, "Sumptuously produced but glacially told, The Crown is the TV equivalent of a long drive through the English countryside. The scenery keeps changing, but remains the same." Slate magazine's Willa Paskin, expressed "It will scratch your period drama itch--and leave you itchy for action." Writing for The Mail on Sunday, Hugo Vickers, an English biographer of the Royal Family, was of the opinion that "while [The Crown] certainly holds the attention, it is marred by a series of sensationalist errors and some quite remarkable lapses into vulgarity."
The Royal family
Adam Helliker from the Daily Express reported in May 2017 that Queen Elizabeth II and her third son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie had watched the first season together. Other royal family members who were fans of the first season included the queen's granddaughters Princess Eugenie, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall. While the Queen was reported to have enjoyed the series, she found some depictions of events to be over-dramatised.
Accolades
See also
- British Royal Family
- The Crown
References
External links
- The Crown on IMDb
- The Crown on Netflix
- The Crown at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Crown at Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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