But Will There Be Corgis? Thread Where We Discuss Netflix's THE CROWN

That...doesn't look promising, sorry.

Have seen the Aus episode now. They didnt even TRY to make it look like australia. The scene where charles and Hawke are standing on what I assume was the portico of the Lodge (the PMs Canberra home) was hilarious: sounds of trilling tropical birds and insects, palm fronds waving, some kind of hilly slopes to a SEA in the background.

Canberra's an inland temperate dry and cold place full of gum trees and a lake.

Shot of brisbane was very clearly somewhere like Barcelona or who the fuck knows. Shot of the sheep station had bizrre looking hills you'd only see in the Americas.

And as sic pointed out above Hawke never said any of those nasty things about dressing up a pig on the 4 Corners interview. And that show is a serious current affairs show - it doesnt have an audience!

It was hilarious. Still enjoyed it though. Roxborough is a tresh.

Canberra's an inland temperate dry and cold place full of gum trees and a lake.

A fake lake!

Thats right! Its only been there since the 30s I think?

There was a short-lived new national newspaper in the UK in the mid-80s called Today, which is referred to about half a dozen times in one episode, always as "the Today newspaper", presumably bcs Peter Morgan thinks no-one will remember or understand. "Hev you seen these stories in the Today newspaper?" "There's a reporter from the Today newspaper on the phone".

I remember that paper lol, Alastair Campbell was the chief political writer.

I just assumed they wanted to make sure American viewers didn't think it was the Today show.

I remember it being in the break room of the shop I was working in, summer of ‘89.

I remember that paper lol, Alastair Campbell was the chief political writer.

Eddie Shah wasn't it?

The alleged paedo connection continues.

I think so, was the gimmick that paper was all in colour? I mean wow this kind of wild technological advance must have been very impressive in the late 80s. But maybe I'm remembering that bit wrong!

Just thinking of some paedo lyrics to the tune of rock the casbah!

In the early 1990s the newspaper printed a column attacking the city of Liverpool and its inhabitants which was accompanied by a photograph showing a large rubbish tip directly behind the city's iconic Liver Building.[citation needed] In reality, no such rubbish tip existed anywhere in the vicinity of the Liver Building; it subsequently emerged that the photograph was a fake created from a composite of images of the buildings and a rubbish tip that was not in Liverpool, although the photograph's caption implied that the image illustrated the supposed poor upkeep of the city.

it was a very classy newspaper or should that be class-war?

I just assumed they wanted to make sure American viewers didn't think it was the Today show.

Fair enough, but why not avoid confusion by saying eg "the Daily Express"?

Oliver Dowden, the UK secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, told the Daily Mail on Saturday that he plans to request that Netflix add a disclaimer before every episode of "The Crown" saying that it's a work of fiction.

here was me thinking they could have gone much harder and featured even more unflattering portrayals of these horrible fuckers and maybe even put in a laugh track when Dickie gets blown up. But these tories think this was an absolute hatchet job!

They should give it a facetious disclaimer, like the one before "Fargo."

“These people were terrible irl also this show is fictionalized”

Plot twist: at the end Lilibet wakes up, ten years old. It was all a dream.

he used to read Town & Country magazine

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3tDS2XSq9bk/UWmxRGW2ovI/AAAAAAAAKUw/aYTjTEfPdjk/s1600/tumblr_ld4e143rEv1qzpdnh.png

We really enjoyed the two most recent ones we've seen, the one about Margaret and the one about South Africa. Though the show does still suffer a bit from on-the-noseness (which I suppose is to be expected), and also the same gauzy, uncanny valley color correction choices that every TV drama currently seems to make.

I've decided at last that I do actually like this show, I especially like how episodic it is

finishing up s3 and

I love Charles Dance's evolution from potential saboteur to defanged gossip lover in the span of just a couple episodes

Buckingham Palace: Catering assistant stole medals and photos https://t.co/ZSEfhmF7oB

— BBC Yorkshire (@BBCLookNorth) November 30, 2020

lol quite an amusing story here: catering assistant get's extra cleaning duties because of covid 19, uses it as an opportunity to rob expensive trinkets from Buckingham palace. Then the dumb fucker tries selling them on e-bay!

"Who is Billy Jo-el?"

LMAO

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth

The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian.

A series of government memos reveal that Elizabeth Windsor’s private lawyer put pressure on ministers to alter proposed legislation to prevent her shareholdings from being disclosed to the public.

Following the Queen’s intervention, the government inserted a clause into the law granting itself the power to exempt companies used by “heads of state” from new transparency measures.

might be a bit embarrassing for everyone to see what massive wealth you can accumulate by doing fuck all and then being shameless enough to scrounge another £370 million off the state for a bespoke rewire on her yard.

I have seen one episode (#1) of THE CROWN. I think it could be a good concept, and maybe it's like Shakespeare in being about history via the monarchy? I don't doubt it's well made.

But as I just noted on another thread where Prince Philip was mentioned:

... I don't know much about Prince Philip but an odd thing is - many people who presumably don't usually find him hugely sympathetic or interesting seem to watch THE CROWN where he is a major dynamic protagonist?

I think THE CROWN might well be a good idea and well made (I have seen just one episode), but to me it's a bit of a stumbling block that I have spent most of my life thinking that most of the people in it (ie Royals) are not inherently very interesting, intelligent or insightful people, let alone the system they uphold.

... Is this like Shakespeare again, ie: you don't have to think that Richard II or Henry IV or V were genuinely interesting, you just appreciate the play as a play in itself?

it's just a bit of soap opera with a big budget, the people that actually like these Saxe-Coburg freaks were some of its biggest critics.

This latest season isn't that good. It is very hard for me not to see Jimmy McNulty gurning as Charles. He gurns away same as Anderson's Thatcher did.

And I think they are WAY too treading-on-eggshells in their treatment of all the scandal. Which has made for a really weirdly muted season.

I did wonder if one of the reasons I find it boring is because I've watched two other dramatizations of the same events in recent years, so it's just kind of dull? I like Elizabeth Debicki very much, usually, but I'm finding her a bit one-note in this.

lol that's not John Major and posh Dom West is such a dud Charles, especially after the last one nailed him so well. After hours of tedium it turns out the Mohamed Al-Fayed ep has been the only good one. Haven't watched any more.

Agree with these criticisms. McNulty doesn't look a thing like Charles for one; great actor but he makes Charles seem more likeable than he deserved at this point in his life. I am in love with Elizabeth Debicki but the mannerisms she apes (the tilted down head, eyes looking up) seems to affected and unnatural for her. They nailed the hair though.

I'm on episode 6, so far the best episode is the one that focuses almost exclusively on Mohammed al Fayed. I'd watch an entire season of him and Sydney restoring Villa Windsor, ala the Chateau.

Oh, Leslie Manville is great as Margaret though.

wtf was with the whole carriage riding with Natascha McElhone? I mean who would not enjoy that, but really, did that need to be a big part of the second episode?

I had no idea he even did that as a hobby. I think the idea was to insinuate he had some kind of weirdly-too-close companionship with that woman. I agree though, it didnt need that overlong "hey lets refurbish this old thing and ride it aroun the grounds" montage.

BTW whoever was playing Cherie Blair was SO spot on, thought it was actually her for 1.5 seconds.

I had no idea he even did that as a hobby. I think the idea was to insinuate he had some kind of weirdly-too-close companionship with that woman.

tbh, I was more interested in this kind of esoteria than in the big sweep of The Divorce, which has been very well covered elsewhere already. The one thing I did like about the Charles/Diana/Camilla stuff (which I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to at the time) was that the infamous tampon phonecall was picked up by an amateur radio operator, and wasn't the result of a phone tap or deliberate listening device.

i don't even understand how that was technically possible

Me neither, and maybe it's nonsense. When I googled it just now there's a lot of "believed to have been" and "allegedly", so maybe it's all crap, but that is the story everyone went with at the time.

You used to be able to scan and hear mobile calls in the pre-digital signal era which was around that time. you had to have the right gear. my brother had an emergency services scanner and one xmas mid 90s i do recall listening in on calls.

Got to agree, this series just seemed very weak and too happy to give excess time to stories covered better elsewhere.

It seemed remarkably keen to subvert the version of pretty much every character from that previously established too:

The Queen has become some sort of Victorian Values dinosaur, inflexible to change and utterly out of touch with reality
Charles is some Machiavellian genius playing 4d chess to make his future cushy
Diana is a vacuous Sloane interested only in clothes (ok this may well be accurate but they made her far more sympathetic before)
Ann has become a double agent
Andrew is an arse (see Diana comment)

Given this went up to 1997, amazed to see what a free ride al-Fayed got considering by then there had been Cash For Questions, the Johnathon Aitken/Saudi scandal and the ITV documentary about his sexual harassment of staff at Harrods. Will be interesting to see how they deal with his friendship with Michael Jackson, if they bother (although surely he'll appear given the scale of Dodi Death Conspiracy from him.

The final series is going to be bizarre. Presumably episode 1 is the death of Diana (given it's 6 weeks after the end of S5). Golden Jubilee will probably get an episode to itself. Margaret and the Queen Mother die only 7 or so weeks apart so maybe they squash them into one episode? Charles & Camilla's marriage as one? Diamond jubilee and the start of withdrawal from duties. Lockdown and death of Philip. Platty Joobs and her death.

That only leaves 3 episodes for other threads. India tour in 97 leading into Millennium might be a good idea for ep2, maybe with devolution in the middle (things pull apart then hope brings together). Dislike of Blair/NI peace accord could be a politics one.

Probably going to uh "touch on" the sweatless nonce too, surely?

Imelda Staunton's presence just completely changes the character of this for me. Can't shake the Umbrage image, which means that the monarchy is the Ministry of Magic, the palace is Hogwarts, Blair is Snape, etc. There is no way out from that mental spiral for me so I can't bear to watch.

Last season's casting was generally better, although I will admit I am looking forward to some prime Olivia Williams content - she is always a welcome presence on my glowing rectangles

Diamond jubilee and the start of withdrawal from duties. Lockdown and death of Philip. Platty Joobs and her death.

I'd be amazed if they go that far. If it was me I'd end it with her jumping out of a plane with James Bond.

I'd say you'd probably be right if the whole thing was mapped out in advance but to not include the final 10 years, and since the real world provided an actual conclusion to the series before filming started, it would seem far more sensible to end in 2022.

Morgan has said in the past he doesn't plan to tackle recent years, like the Harry/Meghan stuff, as the story isn't over. Don't know if the queen's death changes anything

Also thought this season was weaker, a lot of boring episodes, though there's been 1-2 episodes each season I haven't really liked. Liked Debicki's Diana though

spoilers* but GHOST DIANA klaxon!!!¡¡¡!!! 📣💥🔊

*(i haven't been watching recent seasons, i gleaned this from twitter)