The Crown..Season 5

Greyduster
Yes Imelda Staunton does come across as brittle-and much preferred Olivia Coleman as Queen .. have now finished series 5 and would agree that the content wasn’t as good maybe because the main actors didn’t convince me in their portrayal of who they were meant to be .. when is next series- or should there be as Charles is now King🤔

Next November, I think. It is supposedly going to be the final one.

I don't see the difference between having a series with Charles as King and the previous ones with the Queen.

I didn't like Olivia Colman as the Queen with her squeaky voice and miserable expression. Her face would crack if she smiled. Consequently I'm still trying to get to the end of series 4 but I only watch one every so often. Series 1 and 2 were by far the best.

I gave up watching when it was Series 3 and Olivia Colman, but have now decided to plough ahead with it, mainly because of the history content.

I remember the Harold Wilson Government as a teenager. I had my first package holiday abroad during that time and because of devaluation and the economy we were only allowed to take a minimal amount of spending money out of the country.

However, I was astonished when they showed the Queen not being bothered about the very serious crisis the country was experiencing, and going to France and then the USA with Porchey to look at race horses. I thought this can't be true ... but checked up and it was!!

I have already watched Series 5 so I know I'm watching out of sequence. I don't think it's nearly as good and Prince Philip and the Queen Mother are miscast, plus Elizabeth Debicki is completely overdoing Diana's mannerisms.

but have now decided to plough ahead with it, mainly because of the history content

Thats the trouble though - it isn't necessarily historical, OK the timing of events might be accurate, but the rest is drama. Once I had got over myself exclaiming at the liberties the writers seemed to be taking, I started enjoying it again. But yes, Olivia Colman was way too glum, Imelda Staunton is much better, but even she can't match the Queen's "twinkliness" can she?.

No, there is little twinkliness in Imelda Staunton's portrayal. I loved the way Claire Foy portrayed the Queen. Maybe the fact that she was young and beautiful helped, but she captured the dichotomy between duty and humanity very well, I thought, particularly in the relationship between the Queen and Prince Philip. Olivia Coleman's portrayal was more resigned and pragmatic, and Imelda Staunton's tired and a bit fed up with it all.

I watched the Bashir interview episode last night. They seem to have accurately portrayed the awful deception, which surely involved fraud in making fake documents. Diana’s naive angry vulnerability seemed accurate as well. What shocking actions by Bashir and only recently has it been proved and acknowledged. Such damage caused to everyone.
The actor playing William is good.

Elizabeth Dibicki sadly rather a pantomime Diana and too thin. By this period, Diana had worked on her eating disorder with Suzie Orbach and was looking well

Iam64 yes the Bashir interview scenes were almost identical to what I recall watching when this shocking interview aired... did think the vulnerability of the actress Elizabeth D came across but yes in other scenes it was overplayed. I also thought the boy William actor extremely good in his role and very believable.
Doodledog don't think the Queen had an affair but Charles did and we all know about it...

Elizabeth D has got better as the series progressed and is quite believable. Dominic West has the mannerism of Charles and the voice but is still Dominic West! The guy playing John Major is good. Not sure about Tony Blair but Cheryl looks the part. I think the actress playing Camilla is good as is the actor playing William. Such a shame we don’t get a side story re Edwina Currie! The character of Dodi seems to change but he did become a cocaine fiend and that would explain some of it. The actor playing M Fayed is scarily good.

Doodledog don't think the Queen had an affair but Charles did and we all know about it...

No, I don't think so either . I didn't say she did.

My DGS auditioned for the part of William. I used to go over the script with him. It was good to see Imelda S and the lucky boy chosen to be William (Dominic West's real son. Hmmmm? Fix? Irritated proud Gran? Moi?!)
performing it. Imelda did it better than me!

Diana’s naive angry vulnerability seemed accurate as well.

Re the Martin Bashir interview, it wasn't only Diana who was taken in, Bashir persuaded her brother first of all and lied to him, and then Diana discussed it with her brother and felt more convinced.

Chestnut

Apparently Prince Philip was very hurt and upset when Netflix made out he had been blamed for his sister's death in an earlier episode, which was absolutely not true. He asked lawyers 'what can I do?'

That gives you an idea of the misrepresentation going on here. It is very hurtful to the people being portrayed, and leaves an inaccurate impression with the viewer.

I can see why he would be upset, but it was actually a very good piece of storytelling. They couldn't portray Philip's innermost thoughts so had to articulate them through other people. And whilst he wasn't to blame for his sister's death, I am sure he felt guilty all the same - people always do.

Aveline

My DGS auditioned for the part of William. I used to go over the script with him. It was good to see Imelda S and the lucky boy chosen to be William (Dominic West's real son. Hmmmm? Fix? Irritated proud Gran? Moi?!)
performing it. Imelda did it better than me!

How exciting! Is your grandson at drama school?

No. He was only 10 at the time and William was to be age 13 but DGS is a tall boy. His drama teacher at school put him forward for it. He was sent a top secret script to practise and had to be filmed saying certain things plus the lines from the script.

All the same, that counts as exciting in my book . I hope his mum and dad have kept the script safe for posterity.

I've just chucked it. Oops!!

Oh dear .

Just ploughed through the last episode of Series 4 and it was brutal. I hate the way Charles is hanging his head like a sad, pathetic puppy all the time and then turns aggressive and shouts violently. I simply don't recognise this portrayal of Charles and I don't agree with showing unpleasant and totally imaginary private conversations. Netflix are shameless.

Doodledog

No, there is little twinkliness in Imelda Staunton's portrayal. I loved the way Claire Foy portrayed the Queen. Maybe the fact that she was young and beautiful helped, but she captured the dichotomy between duty and humanity very well, I thought, particularly in the relationship between the Queen and Prince Philip. Olivia Coleman's portrayal was more resigned and pragmatic, and Imelda Staunton's tired and a bit fed up with it all.

I agree. It’s not hard to believe the Queen would have gone through these stages as she progressed through her life. So, although the writers would have known very little about the Queen’s thoughts and feelings through the years, the development of the Queen character was believable.

I finished watching the final series last week. My thought was that the tabloid press had made a huge mountain out of a molehill. The final episode was tastefully done. No dreadful death scenes, no wailing and weeping… just Diana setting off on her final holiday. The End.

That is not the end. The car crash has been filmed and will be in Series 6.

I agree about Olivia Colman. She was dreadful and nothing like the real Queen. The first actress, Claire Foy, was much better and this recent one isn’t too bad but a little more portly that I remember the queen ever being. I would have thought they might do another one up to the death of the Queen, just to complete the series. My daughters,who are totally uninterested in the RF, found it entertaining as a good soap opera.

I've just moved onto Episode 1 of Series 5 and it's making me feel uncomfortable. These are living people and the events are just too recent. It all seems voyeuristic. If I carry on it will only be to see how they choose to portray people, but so far it's not looking good. Imelda Staunton seems even colder than Olivia Colman (if that's even possible). No-one seems to have captured the Queen's sparkling sense of humour and Charles is as hard as stone, as if his initial vulnerability has now turned him into a heartless monster. I'm not liking it.

Ladyleftfieldlover

I finished watching the final series last week. My thought was that the tabloid press had made a huge mountain out of a molehill. The final episode was tastefully done. No dreadful death scenes, no wailing and weeping… just Diana setting off on her final holiday. The End.

Yes- I felt it sort of fizzled out though !
There were a lot of “premonitions” weren’t there-Al Fayed buying the Ritz for starters!