National Post (National Edition)
HAIR, HANDBAG, HARRUMPH
ANDERSON'S THATCHER, CORRIN'S LADY DIANA AMONG THE CROWN'S NEWCOMERS TO SHINE
The Crown (Season 4)
Cast: Olivia Colman, Emma Corrin, Gillian Anderson Directors: Various Duration: About 10 h
When the first episodes of The Crown came to Netflix in 2016, it felt like a period drama. Claire Foy and Matt Smith starred as Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip, but looking little like the nonagenarians we know today. There were appearances by Winston Churchill, Edward VIII and other historical figures, and plots centred on such events as the Great Smog of '52, about which some younger Brits (or others) don't even know.
But as the seasons progressed, time marched forward and the plots started to resemble not so much historical re-enactments as recollections of recent current events. Season 4, spanning 1977 through 1990, has garnered great excitement for its introduction of Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer and Gillian Anderson as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Even those too young to remember firsthand the Royal Wedding of '81, the Falklands War and Apartheid in South Africa will at least know of the events.
As such, the newest 10 episodes should disappoint neither longtime Royal watchers nor those tuning in to see Lady Di. Olivia Colman in her second and last go-round — she'll be replaced in season 5 by Imelda Staunton — excels at playing the Queen, and Josh O'Connor is fantastic as the self-centred Prince of Wales, but it's the newcomers who really shine in this season. Thatcher was an outlier in so many ways. Taking office in 1979, she was one of the first female leaders of the modern era. But she was a ruthless PM, a staunch conservative thinker and, ironically, not a great advocate for women's rights.
She was also just six months
older than Elizabeth. In the season opener, the Queen seems to imagine they'll get on famously, an idea shattered by their first chilly meeting. (The Royals take revenge after a fashion in episode 2, in which Thatcher visits Balmoral castle in Scotland and is humiliated by not knowing any of the proper protocol.)
Any portrayal of Thatcher has to start in the realm of caricature — hairstyle, handbag, harrumphing voice — but Anderson takes it forward nicely, displaying her humanity without losing sight of how driven she was. There was no down time for her — any spare moment might be profitably employed in the work of governing.
Lady Diana was another matter entirely. The future Princess of Wales was just 19 when she first met Charles's family — again at their summer residence in Scotland, which seems to have done double duty as a testing ground for potential family and friends. Her wedding day was not even a month after her 20th birthday. Charles was then 32, and still hopelessly in love with Camilla Parker-Bowles (Emerald Fennell).
One scene that finds Diana roller-skating through Buckingham Palace, Duran Duran on her Walkman, again makes the figure from coins and commemorative plates into someone human and
relatable. And with the benefit of hindsight, the series also shows Diana dealing with bulimia, long a secret and less understood then than now.
The length of the season — 10 hour-long episodes, which will no doubt devour a weekend for many devotees — allows for some fascinating digressions. Episode 7, The Hereditary Principle, finds Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) playing detective, and learning about some little-known Royal relatives. And episode 5 delivers a sympathetic and at times funny account of Michael Fagan, who in 1982 sneaked into Buckingham Palace and had a chat with the Queen in her bedroom.
And while this will no doubt annoy anti-monarchists, The Crown reserves its greatest sympathy for the Queen herself. Charles does not come off well, but the portrait of the sovereign is one of a woman devoted to her duty, and determined to do it to the best of her ability. It's no surprise that the British government recently announced an extra bank holiday in 2022 to mark the Queen's platinum jubilee of 70 years. The Crown has two more seasons to run after this, but Elizabeth has no plans to retire.