The Crown - Next Series

[antelopevalley]

The next series will be starting on the 9th of November. Imelda Staunton will be playing the Queen. Tobias Menzies is playing Philip.

Historical events we’re likely to see in season 5 of The Crown:
Prince Andrew’s divorce
Princess Anne’s divorce
Windsor Castle fire
The separation/divorce of Prince Charles and Lady Diana
The Queen sues The Sun newspaper
The death of Princess Diana
Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-crown-season-5-on-netflix-everything-we-know-so-far-09-2022/

Who will be watching it?

I find your insistence that it is all “evidenced” bizarre op - Philippa Gregory writes historical fiction - you surely don’t believe all she has written?

Agree re the “evidenced” point - honestly, OP, is it anything other than “abdication speculation” (which may have been a general thing) shoehorned into the mouths of two characters because the writers wanted it in the story.

Even Diana's own interviews (available on Netflix ironically!) contradict much of how The Crown portrayed her. Likewise with Thatcher.
The Crown slipped from creative license to definite political agenda. The events aren't 'evidenced'. Even basic facts like dates and locations are often wrong. The conversations are all fictional. The political mood of the country and the views of the general public are often completely inaccurate.
Everyone connected to the events of the last seasons said The Crown was wrong - Michael Fagan; Charles Spencer; the Thatchers; the widow of Hugh Lindsay (who died at Klosters); families from Aberfan, etc. Now John Major. It's not drama that punches 'up'. It's just shoddy.
It's no coincidence that as Netflix's standards have fallen so has their income.

"Evidenced"?

Are you sure?

A quick google of 'inaccuracies in The Crown' instantly brings up pages of results. The production team themselves have never claimed that the show is factual. Why are you making that claim for them?

No one ever asked the Royal Family what they said or did?I

if you read the rest of my sentence I said “beyond what is already in the public domain” So as pp have said, words have been put in to the mouths of characters, as part of a work of fiction.

I was reminded of the Crown when I saw footage of the Queen at Aberfan recently. Her face was grief stricken. It was despicable that the Crown implied she faked tears there.
I’d be furious if I was John Major.

Shocking. The director is well known for being a republican. It's a hatchet job

I'm currently rewatching from the beginning and I'm surprised how little they have made of Princess Anne in series 3&4, especially as Erin Doherty is so good as her. A little bit about her showjumping, though not the Olympics, nothing about her wedding, just Mark Phillips suddenly appearing at the dinner table in Balmoral, and even more surprising nothing about the kidnap attempt, which I would have thought would be prime material.

I don't think the director likes focussing on female characters unless he has no choice, as in the queen herself obviously, or when the story lines conform to certain stereotypes about women. So unless the female characters are falling in or out of love, being cheated on or being jealous of other women, frankly Morgan is not that interested. So much of the first two series were about Philip and his 'pain', because men and their lives are just so much more fascinating than those of women, including the queen herself.

I’d agree the lives of the female characters are minimised but would also say that Philip had an unusually interesting backstory - a member of an exiled Royal family, tragic death of sister a family - who all had a full Nazi state funeral, family full of Nazi supporters in general, schizophrenic mother who became a nun and so on. It we didn’t know that all actually happened, we’d never believe it as a plot line!

Philip did have a fascinating life story but I think Morgan is also poor at writing female characters.
It may be why the last season was so bad because it was quite female led - Thatcher; the Queen; Diana - and the writers don't understand or even appear to like women.

The kidnap attempt is quite a story, especially with Anne saying ‘not bloody likely’ when the kidnappers told her to get out of the car.
Did the Crown portray the scene where someone shot at the Queen during Trooping the Colour? I was young but I remember being impressed with how composed she was.

Sarah might seem to have been screwed over

She's had debts dissolved for her, had and still has the run of her hideous husband's puffed up gaffs, and has been able to churn out any amount of written stinkers.

Not too shabby as screwings over go.

@cathy She had to depend on largesse i.e. financial favours. When what she should have had was a big divorce payout not dependent on favours and keeping relevant people on side.

Of course. Just like any drama of historical events.

Antelope, weren’t you just saying that the there must be evidence for John Major/Charles convo on abdication? And now you are agreeing that it’s a work of fiction?

@SheilaFentiman I have said all along that it is a drama based on historical events.
Please do not misquote me.
Exactly the same as dramas based around other historical events from Hillsborough to the Profumo affair.

”There will be evidence from someone they have used. Does anyone know from who?”

implies that you think the convo did happen, despite Major’s denial.

And despite things changed for dramatic reasons eg mark thatcher had been found well before the Falklands War was declared, and the series deciding that the intruder into the queen’s bedroom was motivated by enmity to Thatcher (which was certainly making up and putting words into his mouth, just as they are doing with Major)

Dramas based on Hillsborough and the Profuma affair are not the same as The Crown. They are time specific and limited events with documented enquiries and cases in the public domain. Court records are very different from deliberately creating fictious conversations and events.
Morgan has freely admitted that he deliberately fabricated events, correspondence and conversations that were negative about RF members. He's obviously continuing that trend for the other seasons. I'm guessing the forthcoming Harry storylines will prompt certain posters to change their mind about The Crown's veracity and intentions.

Are there forthcoming Harry storylines? The series will stop in the 00s so they won't cover the Meghan years.

You said that "every other major event in the series os far has been evidenced."

But that's not true, is it? Several story lines have simply been made up, the John Major one being just the most recent.

I know you hate the royals, but do you think it is ethical to simply invent dialogues and plot lines involving people who are still alive and in the public eye? And not just small talk, but serious matters about their families, and sometimes state affairs? Without even a disclaimer at the start to remind viewers that this is just entertainment, and not always based on fact?

I loved the first two seasons of The Crown, and I enjoyed season 3, but I really didn't like season 4 - i think because that's now in my memory, and I remember sitting and thinking "that's not what happened..." I suspect that a lot of people won't like seasons 5 and 6 for the exact same reason - it's too close to recent memory.

You either have to be completely factual, or complete fiction - you can't dip in and out of both.

I always thought that it should end with Diana's death - then the post-Crown follow on would logically be The Queen, with Helen Mirren (also done by Peter Morgan).

The stuff in the papers today suggesting that they are recreating Diana's crash seems hideously insensitive. There's literally no need to try and recreate a crash where three people died.

Does anyone know what season 5 will cover? I assume the divorce, panorama, Windsor Castle fire... I also wonder if they will highlight the deception that Bashir used to get Diana to be interviewed now that it's a record of public fact

@thebellagio I've read they aren't recreating the actual crash, just the build up to it which I presume will be Princess Diana and Dodi in Paris. I'm guessing it will show them up to when they leave the hotel and then the next scene will be the Queen or Charles being told Diana has been in an accident.

@IcedPurple some of the details of major events have been changed. None of them has had no basis in truth at all.
So a reporter did do a love piece about Philips's mother, their meeting was not engineered.

The trouble with denials from politicians, is that they routinely lie so often, no one believes them even if they are telling the truth!

I remember John Major lecturing us all about a return to family values, and then it turned out he'd been shagging Edwin's Curry. Do you think he told Norma the truth about that while it was going on? He certainly didn't tell us.

Now I'm inclined to believe that Prince Charles would not have suggested the Queen abdicate - my impression is that protocol is key to functioning as a member of the RF, but if it had happened, would you expect a former PM to say so or to deny it?