The Crown: season 5

[KillingMeDeftly]

Anyone seen this yet? I'm not quite as convinced by the casting for this season as I was for previous ones but will withhold judgement until I've watched the whole series.

Elizabeth Debicki looks the part as Diana, although I thought Emma Corrin captured her voice better. Dominic West is very flattering casting for Charles but Olivia Williams as Camilla is uncanny. I never thought she looked anything like her but they've made her a dead ringer! Same goes for Jonny Lee Miller as John Major.

It looks like this season will cover events up to and including Diana's Panorama interview.

Agreed, Mr PB an infamous shagger and very tolerant. Quoted approvingly at a party attended by the PBs and the PoW where C and C had spent the evening smooching "yes, HRH is very fond of my wife. Very fond indeed."

I don't understand the appeal of APB, even in his younger years!

Agreed. I think they've all got a relatively small pool to fish in. From what I see it's fine to shag around as long as its from the pool. But Horror! If we proles find out about it then it's the end of the world. Always puzzled me that Diana didnt seem to get it.

There was a few things re Prince Philip that seemed to be hinting at something but came to nothing, it seemed like he was going deaf or getting confused at one point and then he was okay again?! I've no idea about the bird either 🤔 it was a bit odd.

Among the upper classes, it was traditionally seen as a compliment if a prince fancied your wife. And given what a prolific and indiscreet shagger he was, he could hardly begrudge Camila a few indulgences of her own.

IcedPurple at the time, my then teenaged daughter asked why APB didn't seem at all distressed or angry about it and was utterly perplexed by my attempting to explain it was as you say, taken as a compliment. They Are Not Like Us.

Just binged the whole series having been away when it dropped earlier this month

It started slow didn't it. I didn't manage to engage with the whole Philip and the carriage driving saga!

Casting. Love Imelda but was distracted by her little cats bum mouth pursing here. Diana was sooooo tall. Actress got her accent and mannerisms wonderfully but I think was allowed to overstate this and be almost a caricature. QM totally miscast. She was angular and arch. Whereas QM was plump and powdery.

DW was too handsome and Philip just not quite right. Menzies could have aged up I think.

John Major comes out well!

I loved the historical vignettes especially the one in Egypt. That whole episode was great. I'm afraid I couldn't bare to watch the massacre of the Romanovs.

Overall it's still amazing viewing but I think less compelling than the first few.

Just to say thank you to the PPs on this thread for giving me a trigger warning about episode 6. Because of this I deliberately just watched the first 10 minutes this afternoon and will watch the rest of the episode later on. I would have struggled if I watched it without warning. As PP said - it was harrowing but I guess that is how it would have happened. That poor poor family 😢

Finished it today
The Al Fayed episode remained my favourite
Too much Diana and Charles for me

I finished it last night too, I really didn't enjoy this series as much and agree that the QM, Anne and Margeret were all miscast (even though Lesly Manville played PM well, she looked nothing like her).

However my biggest annoyance throughout this series was the constant use of empty cups of tea. You could see halfway in the cups and they never had anything in them, and then you see actors fake-sipping from them (e.g. Prince Charles on the boat with Blair in episode 10) That alone was so amateurish and felt very much unlike the Crown seasons of the past.

I also wondered why they left out huge controversial swathes of Dianas life, such as her multiple affairs with married men, and the leaking of her Squidy-gate tapes, and no mention of anything on Prince Andrew or Fergie or Anne. The actors looked like they were cardboard cutouts for background decoration.

It was far too Charles and Camilla focussed for me, and didn't really pick out anything that isn't already known, whereas earlier seasons had a lot more 'oh, I didn't know that' moments to them.

I'm still sad I've finished all of the episodes though.

I know @redandyellowbits but let's hope we don't have to wait too long for the final season. If it follows the pattern of previous seasons then it should be out next November.

I'm on episode 9 and so bored. I'm only watching it because I feel I should having loved series 1-3. It's just an interminable whinge-fest from Charles and Diana. Has anything else happened in the series? I can't even remember and I'm still watching it! It feels like the sole story for about the last 14 episodes has just been them.

Total bust I think. Bad casting, boring script. Such a shame.

Thanks for the warning about episode 6, I couldn’t watch that. Just awful.

My overriding feeling so far (and I’m only just up to episode 6) is that Charles is being made to look wonderful and Diana not so wonderful. I don’t feel comfortable about that.

imelda Staunton would have been a much better queen mother and it’s a s

Sorry, posted too soon
it’s a shame that Olivia Coleman did stay on as queen as I bought into her portrayal quite easily.
diana is a bad Diana impression to me

Did not stay on as queen

I like Imelda.
I can't stand Olivia!
Agree about the Diana impression 🤣

Just finished it all. On the whole it is quite clever and I liked the introduction of the Fayed family and links to Edward and Wallace. I know The Crown is sold to us as fiction but I think they try to bring in a lot of factual stuff that is very useful to know. It gives a lot of food for thought. Glad we have this thread - and agree with a lot of the comments.

The Diana is a very beautiful Diana with very good visual expressions by the actress - probably over doing the down cast eyes and coquette smiles. I remember that Diana was down to earth and had more depth than is portrayed. I believe Diana she was a courageous and brave young woman and for speaking out the way she did despite being so isolated.

Gosh, I should have read this before watching episode 6. Really shock me. I knew what was happening historically, but wow. Think that will stay with me for a while.

Lady Susan Hussey ( Duke's wife) has catapulted herself into the news today.

The conversation is staggeringly awful. Rightly called out as racist and very hard to believe it was not intentional rather than ignorance. Horrible.

The conversation is staggeringly awful. Rightly called out as racist and very hard to believe it was not intentional rather than ignorance. Horrible

I agree, The exchange between Susan Hussey and the woman she was ‘talking to’ read like an interrogation. She just didn’t let up. Yes she’s of a different generation but even if she didn’t mean to offend, surely she would have known it was rude to keep pushing for answers to questions that were obviously causing someone much discomfort .

This whole “different generation” thing is a nonsense these days though. My parents are in their 70s and lived through the 60s, the civil rights era and they wouldn’t do the “where are you REALLY from”. They might ask “did you grow up here” because I think that was ok to ask until relatively recently, and they would see that as showing an interest in the world, as they are also quite well travelled, so it would be a conversation starter.
Equally, people of that generation, unless totally pig headed, surely know that words change meaning. My dad always used to refer to people from Asia as “Oriental” but when I said that we don’t use that word anymore he was like “oh right, ok then”. When they were young, it was normal to use “coloured” but they’ve adapted to use “black” or “African American/British” now as well.
Surely if you’re going into a situation where you’re meeting people from different races and backgrounds you would do some research into what today’s cultural norms are?

Watched the whole series, but dreadful in Comparison to the others. PP casting was awful. Reminded me of a characters from Last of the Summer Wine.Just didn't do it for me as Prince.
Margaret and Anne, also dreadfully cast. They got it right, more or less in previous series, but this was awful and completely unbelievable. Shame as I love the Crown.