The Crown Series 4

[Housewife2010]

Anyone else getting excited? The Diana trailer looks great. It's on Netflix on 15th November.

@longwayoff

Can I be the only person with a raft of cousins I've never met and never will? I thought this was quite common.

I've never met one of my cousins, she was an adult when I was born, I've no idea if she's still alive. I hardly know any of my cousins anyway.

What @TheCrowsHaveEyes said. 100%.

Yy I think there's always that balance between the personal and the political for the RF.
And there's a lot of revisionist history going on too where people apply modern attitudes to the past, seemingly unaware that their own attitudes are 'of their time' too. But there are threads on here just now arguing that disruptive DCs should be denied an education and kept separate. Society continues to struggle with how to balance inclusion and caring; provision and facilities.

@jessstan1

"They would have been her age or older - she was the youngest of ten"

The Queen Mother was born in 1900, Nerissa Bowes- Lyon was born in 1919 and Katherine in 1926.

@MissEliza

Obviously the Fagan episode was to show the divisiveness of Thatcher's policies. However, he is a real person who is still alive and it's completely unfair to twist his character to suit someone's agenda. I believe he's not happy about it.

His complaint I believe was that the actor portraying him was not handsome enough.

He’s not exactly someone to trust as far as being a reliable witness goes, his account of the events has changed several times and he comes across as a serial fantasist. The closing credits neglected to mention that since the events at BP he has also been charged, and done time for, car theft, assaulting a police officer and dealing heroin.

Wasn't he high on magic mushrooms at the time?

Therefore he's hardly a great character through whom to tell the story of the economic damage caused to many by Thatcherism. It's a bloody joke they twisted the story like that. He's hardly Yosser Hughes.
Major Hugh Lindsay's widow has also complained about using her private tragedy to make a point about the Wales' marriage. She asked the producers not to use it but obviously they ignored her.

He was definitely unreliable.

At the time, part of the shock was that if the Queen was that vulnerable to an intruder what chance did the rest of us have.

Major Hugh Lindsay's widow has also complained about using her private tragedy to make a point about the Wales' marriage. She asked the producers not to use it but obviously they ignored her. It was a major news story, though, and Prince Charles could have died too so it was a major incident in his life.

Major Lindsay's widow is upset at the use of her husband's death like that. She had contacted them and asked that it not be used. She is very unhappy.

Sorry MissEliza cross post.

@Maireas

Major Lindsay's widow is upset at the use of her husband's death like that. She had contacted them and asked that it not be used. She is very unhappy.

This is an odd response in my opinion. I get that it's HER response, and valid, but, the show portrayed something that did happen. The show didn't didn't portray a character that could be said to be inaccurate. Her husband was friends with prince charles. It is history really.

@Maireas

Major Lindsay's widow is upset at the use of her husband's death like that. She had contacted them and asked that it not be used. She is very unhappy.

It's a reminder that there are real people affected by these stories who are still around.The royals exchange privacy for great wealth but people like MF or Major Lindsey's widow do not.

Yes, but it's not an exposed secret.

I think the problem is that they are now showing an era which is part of many people's own memory and experience.

Yy I agree Fagan was a poor choice to show the impact of Thatcher's policies. It wasn't only people with drug problems and chaotic lives who lost their jobs and suffered under Thatcher policies. There were lots of hard-working people and industries that were affected ... and are still affected. They could have spent an episode on Right to Buy. It had a massive far-reaching effect on people's lives and on Britain, and continues to do so.

I also think Major Lindsay's widow was entitled to ask for his death not to be dramatised. That doesn't mean they had to acquiesce. But they didn't include Anne's attempted kidnapping so it wasn't a foregone conclusion that they would make the avalanche the focus of an episode. Apparently, people close to C&D at the time were also unhappy that the storyline implied the avalanche made Diana recommit to the marriage because in RL Diana actually blamed Charles for Major Lindsay's death.

Camilla is getting lots of abuse on RF social media accounts because of how The Crown has portrayed her, Charles and Diana.

I actually think Peter Morgan should apologise and end the series here. He has taken too much partisan, dramatic licence and it is having effects on people's RL. I don't have a problem with people being held to account for their RL actions but I think it's unjust to hold them to account for a glossy fairystory that deliberately used broad brushstrokes to paint villains and victims.

There should be a disclaimer at the start and end of The Crown stating that it is a dramatic series and some events and characters are invented or combined just as many films have that stated. Far too many people seem to think that everything shown is true. The scene with Diana walking into a room and all the royals were standing in a circle was ridiculous. Diana knew all of them, she wasn’t some interloper, but that scene made her look clueless and was unfair to all of them.

In some parts it reminds me of those "Comic Strip Presents" from the early 80s. They did one about the Miner's Strike with "Al Pacino" as Ken Livingstone and "Meryl Steep" as Margaret Thatcher. Very funny.

You're right, PhoebeSnow. Diana had known royals all her life. She wasn't an outsider.

Yes PhoebeSnow, she wasn't an outsider and I've always thought that the RF was utterly astonished by her complaints. They were expecting a compliant aristo gel, used to the way of life and thrilled by snagging the PoW with admittance to the RF. They got an under educated, starry eyed teenage girl who read Barbara Cartland. Someone should have passed her at least one history book.

Diana wasn't only starry-eyed, she wanted to be Queen.
I kept thinking there was something else missing in the politics' coverage this season and I've just realised it was Neil Kinnock. They also missed Lockerbie.

I think that it was just about a waste of a series.

Far too much focus on C&D & (presumably) imagined interactions & conversations.

An awful lot of things were missed in this series. For example, I think it's the first one which hasn't mentioned the US yet IIRC the Queen charmed the pants off Reagan. The 80s were a defining decade for this country and Morgan really failed to capture that.

Gosh yy Reagan ... and Gorbachev and Lech Walesa. I know the focus of the series is supposed to be 'the Crown' but I think they completely failed to capture the outside world and what was important to the country and the public. The earlier series had a much better balance.

Perhaps London and the 'arts' world were obsessed with C&D and their affairs but they weren't the defining moments of the 80's for most of the country. And, I actually doubt they were that important to the RF. They were used to unhappy marriages. It was probably only when it all hit the fan with the Morton book, the interviews, the exposes, that it preoccupied the RF's.

I do think C & D were kind of important in symbolising the glamorous materialistic side of the 80s. That barely came across in the Crown. They had many triumphant overseas tours where they absolutely wowed and D looked amazing. Also, there was barely any mention of the relentless tabloid coverage. I feel like her face was on the front page most days. This also added to the pressure which took its toll on her mental health. Her own db alluded to it at her funeral. Yet the blame is all laid at Charles' feet in the Crown.