Shatter-ed lives move on
Having brought an earlier British monarch, Queen Anne, so magnificently to life in her Oscarwinning turn in The Favourite, Colman (Broadchurch) doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong in the early stages of her reign as Elizabeth II. While she and the previous incumbent, Claire Foy, aren’t exactly similarly featured, Colman is spot on with the mix of smarts, steeliness and cutting charm that Helen Mirren exuded as the Queen in The Crown writer Peter Morgan’s 2006 movie The Queen.
Likewise, Bonham Carter (who played the Queen Mother in 2010’s The King’s Speech )isa brilliant choice to play the complex Margaret, as she struggles to find her place in society.
However, the surprise standout is Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones’ Edmure Tully), who nails the Duke of Edinburgh’s distinctive accent and cadence.
As with the first two seasons, The Crown’s production designers and costumers deserve plenty of plaudits for their attention to detail (including Margaret’s ‘‘it’s not easy being a princess’’ throw cushion), while Morgan’s scripts sparkle with incident and memorable dialogue.
With global events such as the decolonisation of Africa, the Apollo 11 moon landing and Margaret’s affair with Roddy Llewellyn to look forward to, as well as the prospect of Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher, there are plenty of reasons for losing the next weekend or two to this sumptuous, spellbinding series.
Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld. Scholastic. Shatter City continues the story begun in Impostors. This dystopian teen sci-fi series heats up as Frey, who has been raised as a body double for her famous sister Rafi, impersonates her under the nose of their father, the dictator of Shreve.
That switcheroo sees Rafi join rebel forces, while Frey is trapped with a bomb collar, faking her sister’s engagement to wealthy heir Col Palafox for propaganda.
Meanwhile, the dictator has plans to destroy an entire city, but when Frey goes in search of Rafi, she cannot be so easily found.
Shatter City combines coming-of-age adventure with elaborate world-building, and is full of technological surprises and political intrigue and high-octane action sequences; it also touches on contemporary social themes and features a character with a non-binary gender identity.