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.

I don’t believe for a second that Lady Hussey didn’t intend any offence, or know it was an unacceptably racist question. Not to mention the twitching the woman’s hair out of the way as if she were livestock. Awful. I’m also really angry that her behaviour completely overshadowed what should have been a really significant event. I think it’s amazing that the Queen is being so vocal about violence against women and girls from the start.

Have just finished it and am quite annoyed. Unlike prior seasons, the history was completely sidelined for the personal stuff. Think of Aberfan, with the build up and the school and things… then think of Yeltsin visiting, nothing about the historic moments of that huge change, or everything else in Eastern Europe in that era, or the Maastricht treaty, or peace talks in NI (one passing reference in the context of Charles and Diana!).

it was just miserable marriages from beginning to end!

“it was just miserable marriages from beginning to end!

Apart from the assignations of the Russian Royal Family - which I could not watch - it was a whole season of miserable. I will watch season 6 but writers are going to have to pick up their game. Season 1 - 3 were really good, season 4 not so much and this season was a chore to watch.

I think it probably was a miserable time for the RF but nearly everything, the characters, the jewels, the palatial settings seemed to have a miserable dull look about them. Gloomy. And the character of the gloomy Queen sitting next to a two bar radiator cracked me up. I know they used the 2 bar radiator and the old rented tv that didn’t work properly as symbolism of a Queen no longer keeping up with the times - indeed, settled into a miserable but sort of stubborn complacency — but when the new big remote controlled tv was bought, at the encouragement of the young Character William, symbolising a young generation bringing the RF into the ‘modern age’ I laughed. Heavy handed, much.

Oh, yes, the symbolism… Charles is young, the queen is old, the yacht is past it, yada yada! The queen was only 65 or something.

Even the Romanov episode was an excuse to show fictionalised cracks between the queen and pp. PP mad at the queen because her vain granny stopped her pretty sister coming to England (when in fact it was king George intervening cos worried about anti German/Russian sentiment, not some female jealousy thing!). That whole bit would have been better spent on the political backdrop to Yeltsin or something.

I know they have to make up conversations but I wish they wouldn’t make up evidence (eg the abdication poll was a different date and much less hostile than shown, no evidence of Edward VIII diaries linking to the romanovs etc)

A scene about whether George V was right or wrong to be nervous, or a conversation with his PM about the Romanov situation, would have been better. And as the whole premise is “ the Crown comes first” - more in keeping, too, of how to balance family and public loyalties. But instead, something that caused trouble for PP and QE!

Just watched the episode with Diana befriending Hasbat Khan and she has a similar convo with him - where are you from, he says Surrey, she says no where are you really from.

Ugh, that bit where Diana was banging on about HK to her friend. Totally unnecessary to make up that cracking selfishness.

You know the events largely happened but the conversations are made up? No one knows what any of them actually said except on those conversations that were taped.

I watched the bashir episode last night and either bashir or Charles Spencer ( can’t remember now) used the same “dirty tricks” phrase that Harry uses in his documentary trailer.
bashir was the “dirty tricks” culprit in the Diana saga. But there are still obvious parallels with Netflix itself and the new documentary.

Oh I totally know that 99% of it is made up. It's very obvious. Just thought it was interesting, given the current headlines.

Finished the last episode last night - god that was boring wasn't it?

It mostly just consisted of painfully long monologues from Dominic West's terrible Prince Charles.

I was under the impression that Season 5 ended with the death of Diana and was thinking halfway through the last episode that it must wrap up very quickly at the end!

Who knew hot John Major was the hero we were all searching for. I feel like we need to go back and do 1997 again.

The Crown is deserving of all sorts of awards for the 5th series.

They managed to make the most turbulent, scandalous decade of recent royal history into something of a snooze. That takes some skill.

Even where the actual words they said are recorded, they say something different in the series. So you definitely can’t believe any of what they say is what they actually said. I had just watched clips of the real panorama interview with Diana before I watched the episode with that interview in and what she said and the way she said it was so different to the real thing, I was pretty annoyed. I think the portrayal of Diana is so off in this series and an insult to her memory.

Yes Diana wasn't portrayed very accurately but I'm grateful that the gist of her story was told - and the sequence of events are there for the younger generation to see. This is the backstory before Harry tells his story about his life and his mum and the struggles and injustices. He's right to speak out and say what he wants to say and I admire his courage. Can't wait to hear his side tomorrow and I'll be buying his book - his memoir.

I just feel if I were a young person watching this I wouldn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Diana but having lived through this time period, even though I was a young at the time, it’s so glaringly obvious that the actress playing Diana and the director telling her how to act as Diana have got it so so wrong. None of her warmth and strength of character is coming across. I know I didn’t personally know her and this may be how she was really ‘behind closed doors’ but I very much doubt it.

I thought the scene in the hospital with her friend/staff ? who’s husband was being looked after by hasnat khan was awful.
Talking about the doctor instead of comforting her.
it made out Diana was heartless, hopefully it was a big made up lie.

I thought the way it was played was that Diana was trying to take her friend's mind off things.

Glad I’m not the only one who was disappointed with the 5th season. Absolute borefest.

I just feel if I were a young person watching this I wouldn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Diana

Yes I know what you mean. I remember Diana and I remember her as the woman who was betrayed, and gaslit and tormented. She coped so well and with great strength of character and warmth. She was so young - thirteen years younger than Camilla.

The actress playing Diana is like a bad caricature.

I agree IcedPurple.

(we certainly have different opinions about Harry &meghan, but you are spot on with this assessment of The Crown season 5). 👍

I watched it but spent most of it with my phone in my hand. So unengaging.

I’ve just finished it and it didn’t approve. Boring writing and awful casting made this by far the weakest season of the five. It says a lot that the most interesting episode was the one about the Al-Fayed’s, where the RF barely featured. What a shame my former favourite TV show went downhill so quickly.

It would have been interesting of Prince Michael of Kent had been present. He speaks Russian fluently.

I was obsessed with the Anna Anderson story growing up (and went on to do a degree in Russian history in no small part because of it) and the origins of the woman who claimed to be Anna have very recently become clear. Once again through the wonders of DNA.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson

I have not read all the thread so this might have been said already, sorry!.

I got Netlix yesterday just for the Crown. Loving it so far. (Up to Ep 8)