FOR THE COSTUME DRAMA FAN: THE CROWN
For those of us partial to the distracting, undemanding joy of Emily in Paris but who also thrill at the tragic love triangle of War and Peace by way of Andrew Davies, The Crown series 4 is the TV double whammy. It gives you froth and it gives you portent. It gives you outfits and it gives you the meaning of duty. It’s a marriage of the lowbrow and the highbrow in a 10-episode telly fest all of which drops on Netflix on the morning of Sunday November 15, so you’ve got time to watch the whole lot ( just about) before turning to the inferior pleasures of Small Axe or I’m a Celebrity in the evening.
Like with The Crown’s previous iterations the costumes of series 4 are fabulous, a little visual history lesson but also, let’s face it, simultaneously proffering some excellent suggestions for your own vintage shopping list. We’re now in the Eighties so it is shoulder-pads and excellently large hair at every turn.
There is much else in this upcoming series that is to be taken frivolously: shots spent with multiple corgis, shots caressing absurdly plush levels of furnishings, the bizarre CGI fail of a very stiff-looking stag. But at its heart you get the truly significant, too: the booming dramatic thud of the most famous love triangle of the 20th century, shackled as it was to our understanding of the whole point of the Royal family and what its role should be in the nation’s life.
And more, at the love triangle’s heart is the saddest of sad princesses. It’s no big reveal to say The Crown series 4 is all about Diana, once Princess of Wales (played by Emma Corrin, left). What many commentators have missed hitherto is that The Crown is also a family show, what with its kings and queens and castles and palaces. And with Diana placed front and centre (along with – let’s face it – the visually less charming Margaret Thatcher), this series has got a heartbreaking fairy tale, too. My 10-year-old daughter caught a glimpse of Diana while I was watching the series opener, and remained hooked for the next nine hours.
The Crown and its performances – are they just good impressions? Has Josh O’connor actually turned into Prince Charles? Would the Queen ever really say that? Has Olivia Colman really got a Left-wing face? – are going to be the talking point of lockdown 2. You’re going to want to lead the conversation.