The Crown: Season One 2016-2017

     Princess Elizabeth has just lost her father King George VI to lung cancer.  The soon to be Queen Elizabeth II is a 25-year-old newlywed faced with the prospect of leading the British Empire as the new Queen.  She must also forge a relationship with the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill.  The Empire is in decline, the political climate is in disarray and a woman is on the throne. 

     The Crown evolved out of Peter Morgan’s 2006 film The Queen and a 2013 stage play The Audience.  The first season covers Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947.  Then the is the disintegration of her sister Princess Margaret’s engagement to Peter Townsend in 1955.  Also, Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigns in 1955.  4* (I really liked this series)

58 min each episode, 20 episodes, TV Drama created by Peter Morgan with Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Victoria Hamilton, Vanessa Kirby, Pip Torrens, Will Keen, LIzzy McInnerny, Chris Gordon, James Hillier, Jeremy Northam, Harry Hadden-Paton, John Lithgow, Clive Frances, Olivia Colman, Teddy Lewis, Billy Jenkins, Nicholas Rowe, Daniel Ings.

Note:  Imdb 8.7 out of 10, 90% critic 93% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6 out of 5 with 280 reviews, Metacritic 81 out of 100 with 29 critics 8.5 out of 10 with 247 ratings.

Special Note:  Filmed in South Africa, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Hertforshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire Surrey and London UK.  This is one of the most expensive television programs ever made.  Each episode is budgeted at 5 million Euros and Netflix has already commissioned Season Two.  There is the intention to film four more seasons with a total of 60 episodes.  John Lithgow is playing Churchill and he was surprised the makeup process was about 20 minutes.  He expected it to be much longer.  All of the actors are British except for American Lithgow.  Claire Foy was 5 months pregnant at her first script reading.  She didn’t expect to land the leading role.  Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Princess Eugenia is a fan of this series.  Claire Foy is four years older than Vanessa Kirby in the role of Princess Margaret.  Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret were the same age difference.  The British tabloids reported that Queen Elizabeth II had watched this series and she is said to have really liked it.  Felicity Jones read for the role of Queen Elizabeth II in 2014.