Your Thoughts on The Crown

I finally decided to watch some episodes of the show, mostly the Diana Years and to be frank, I don't know what to make of it, since the show is supposed to be a true retelling on real life events.

The word I may use to describe the show is indulgent filled with unlikeable POV Self-important people. It's like I almost want to despise the concept of why there is a royal family in the modern age and at the same time I am sort of infatuated with the disasters it keeps on giving.

If this and this is truly the way the royal family behave, I am glad at least the bi-racial American Meghan Markle removed herself from the entire situation and fled back to the USA with her husband (who would never be king as he is 6th in line to the throne)

The highpoint of the show is the acting, which is pretty spot on, anchored by Olivia Colmann been undisputedly one of the best actresses in Hollywood. She even does a better job here playing royalty than she did in The Favourite.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to read the official books for The Crown and realize that whilst it makes a great study into Elizabeth's reign, a fair amount of what transpires is assumed or created. The very concept of the Audience between Queen and PM being off the books means the writers have to assume what is being discussed between monarch and leader, for example. I also think the recent series has shifted more towards Charles and Diana's perspective and so naturally the older royals come off as more unlikeable - it's probably not a bad idea to watch older seasons so you can see why Margaret, Elizabeth and Phillip take their viewpoints, because a lot of it happened to them twenty to thirty years earlier. And you will find there's a decent amount of people in the UK who are probably disappointed with Harry and Meghan for 'shirking their duty', even if it's also understandable in their position that they would like normal lives (and her recent admission of her miscarriage has raised my estimation of her).

I think really the Royal Family are as they likely always have been are complex - ITV's Victoria shows that in a earlier period quite well too. But as to the show I think all the actors do an incredible job, and I am interested in seeing exactly how much they will explore in the final two seasons - the 90's in particular given that 2006's The Queen explored the fallout of Diana's death and Elizabeth's relationship with Tony Blair quite well. I am curious to see what point they will finish on too - some have suggested the Golden Jubilee in 2002 as a logical finish point, paralleling the Silver Jubilee finishing Season 3, but I know there is stuff after that whilst might be really interesting, though there's also earlier material they could have tackled like Anne's attempted kidnapping in 1974.

Do you really think the show is completely accurate to reality? Every episode people found at least a dozen facts it got wrong, from small things like jewelry/medals/clothing/hairstyles to the larger things like the timeline, where people were at times, when/why romantic relationships started and ended, familial relationships, when/where people met, and it treats rumor/urban legend/common belief like fact. I am actually surprised TVTropes hasn't given The Crown it's own page for historical inaccuracies. Think of the show more like The Tudors, Reign, Victoria, and any of the other dozens of historical fiction shows/plays/movies/games/books: while the broad strokes are true most of the finer details are wrong and made that way for the audience who don't show up for facts but drama/romance/action. Hell, even the real people, their relatives, insiders, or people who were at the places at the times shown have pointed out or reported things the show got wrong about the real people it is depicting, few in a joking manner and more in a serious manner. Even Lord Spencer says the show is “lot of conjecture and a lot of invention” and thinks the audience needs to wise up about how a show, no matter how well researched, is NOT a documentary (even those are iffy at points) and shouldn't be taken as a history class.
Do yourself a favor and look up inaccuracies in The Crown, you will find thousands of articles listing details it got wrong, either because records show it is wrong or nothing exists to imply it is accurate to what really happened.

I've only watched the first two series. I don't know if I want to watch series 3 and 4, with completely different actors in the roles.

I think of this series in contrast to VICTORIA. Where THE CROWN seemed to be going for the more high brow appeal, VICTORIA seemed to be just indulgent entertainment for the masses. However, seeing some of the clips for series 4 of THE CROWN, it appears that they've gone straight down to yellow journalism and over the top sensationalism.

And why do they have to hire American actors to play British Prime Ministers? First it was John Lithgow and now it's Gillian Anderson. Were there no good British actors for these parts or is it Netflix trying to get American viewers by putting Americans in plumb roles?

Gillian Anderson IS British. I know, I thought after X-Files she was American, her accent as Scully is that good. But she's British. John did an excellent job as Winston though. And I think all the other Prime Ministers the show has had (Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath) were British actors.

EDIT: Oh wait no she's American. Okay but she grew up in London. Must be why she's able to be both so well.

[QUOTE=Derek Metaltron;5250642]Gillian Anderson IS British. I know, I thought after X-Files she was American, her accent as Scully is that good. But she's British. John did an excellent job as Winston though. And I think all the other Prime Ministers the show has had (Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath) were British actors.

EDIT: Oh wait no she's American. Okay but she grew up in London. Must be why she's able to be both so well.[/QUOTE]

I had similar confusion. First I thought she was British, but then I looked her up and found she was American, but with having spent a lot of time in England. However, I'm not convinced by what I've seen of her Margaret Thatcher in promo clips. To me it's a cartoon and not an authentic bit of acting. It could just be that those clips misrepresent the performance. But I'm not eager to find out. However, I'm sure at some point I will binge through it all.