A quick whip through Series 2 of The Crown
“History is not made by those who did nothing”
Do I still love The Crown? Yes. Do I still find it a little hard to muster enthusiasm about it until I’m watching it. Absolutely. It remains lavish prestige drama that carries little excitement about it and that’s perhaps inevitable as it trundles through the decades of the second half of the twentieth century, little dramatic surprise can really be sprung.
Instead, the thrills come from the script of Peter Morgan’s fantasia into the emotional life of our monarch, and a production that looks like the multi-millions of dollars that have been spent on it. Oh, and the cream of British acting talent popping in for a scene or two at an astonishingly high rate.
Anna Chancellor as Lady Rosse (Princess Margaret’s mother-in-law), John Heffernan’s Lord Altrincham, Janet Henfrey, Gemma Whelan, Ryan Sampson, Stella Gonet, Bertie Carvel…so many blink and miss ’em moments! At least we get the divine Sylvestra Le Touzel gracing a few episodes, if momentarily.
The lead cast remain excellent though, benefitting from a touch more characterisation being built into this series, with marital strife coming to the fore. Claire Foy (such subtlety) and Matt Smith (such beard) both shine, together and apart, her travails with Jackie Kennedy and his sea voyage standing out, though the flashbacks to his early life are also powerful, a reminder that privilege isn’t always pain-free. One for lazy Sunday afternoons with a blanket on the sofa I think.
deeply erotic first photo shoot with Tony
