Entertainment

The Crown stars on becoming the royals and managing the hype of the hotly anticipated show

Published

2 years ago

October 31, 2022

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Every new season of The Crown becomes one of the most hotly anticipated TV events of the year.

And the latest series is no different, with events now focussing on the more recent history of the 1990s.

The show, which Netflix insists is fictional, despite being broadly based on true events and real life people, gets another cast change for season five, reflecting the ageing royal family as it moves through the years.

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Imelda Staunton picks up the role of Queen Elizabeth II, while Jonathan Pryce stars as Prince Philip. Lesley Manville will take over as Princess Margaret, and Dominic West and Olivia Williams will play Prince Charles and Camilla, respectively.

The latest season has not come without its controversy though, with calls from royalists to make it clear the show is fictional, and while others suggested it should be delayed due to the death of the Queen in September.

Explaining to Sky News about the hype around the latest season, West said after the death of the Queen, there is likely to be more people than ever watching – but doesn’t think it is a bad thing.

“What’s interesting with this season is that there’s more people who remember what went on in this season than ever before,” he said.

“And obviously after the Queen’s death… it’s even more interest – and that’s great to be part of… people care what you’re doing.”

However, Staunton added that she had to let go of how people feel about the Queen, particularly following her death, in order to portray her in the show and manage the hype.

“That can’t affect us at all because we’re still just doing this job,” she said.

“And yes, they’re people our generation have known all our lives, but that cannot interrupt what you’re doing, and you can’t use that in any way because it is not useful.”

For Pryce, despite it being the role of a lifetime, he is still aware that the perceptions of the late Royals may have changed.

“I think I’ve been preparing all my life to play Prince Philip,” Pryce told Sky News about taking on the new role.

“I think the thing that will change is with the passing of both Philip and the Queen is it’s not our perceptions of the character, but the audience’s perceptions of the series.

“It will inform how they view it in a different way… there’ll be more of a connection for the audience with the characters.”

Part of the anticipation comes with seeing just how much of a likeness the actors have to their characters, with The Crown famed for its attention to detail – even when it comes to private settings.

“The first scene we [Pryce and Staunton] shot, we both thanked the servant for putting the food down, and we were told by the protocol officer, ‘no, no, no, no, you don’t say thank you’,” Pryce said.

Manville added: “And kiss is first, curtsy second.

“One of my early scenes was Margaret greeting the Queen publicly, and it’s very specific. It’s the kiss first and then the curtsy.”

For West, the detail in the costumes is something that helped him get into the headspace of Prince Charles, going on to tell Sky News: “He’s one of the best dressed men in the world.

“My favourite is his white tropical naval captain’s suit, which is very nice, and nobody looks bad in that. Nobody.”

Williams added: “They have a real skill for finding things from the nineties that have been worn and worn.

“I hate it when you see someone in a pair of shoes that have just been bought, when they would really have shoes that were 20-years-old.”

Season five of The Crown streams on Netflix from 9 November.

Entertainment

Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

David Graham, whose voice featured in some of the UK’s favourite TV shows, including Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig, has died.

The London-born star was 99.

Jamie Anderson, the son of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, led the tributes on X as he called Graham a “legendary” actor.

Graham brought to life the Thunderbirds puppet characters Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains, and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker, in the series about the secret International Rescue organisation.

“We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family,” Anderson’s post on X confirming the death on Friday said.

Anderson went on to pay tribute to Graham, who also voiced the evil Daleks in Doctor Who, saying: “David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment.”

‘What a talent’

Anderson also told the PA news agency: “Just a few weeks ago, I was with 2,000 Anderson fans at a Gerry Anderson concert in Birmingham where we sang him happy birthday – such a joyous occasion.

“And now, just a few weeks later, he’s left us. David was always kind and generous with his time and his talent. And what a talent.”

Highlighting all the characters played by Graham, Anderson added: “He will be sorely missed.”

Graham returned as Parker for ITV’s remake Thunderbirds Are Go, which ran between 2015 and 2020, but not for the live-action 2004 film which saw Ron Cook take on the role.

The original 1965 Thunderbirds was created by Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012, and his second wife, Sylvia, the voice of Lady Penelope, who died in 2016.

Graham also played Grandpa Pig in children’s show Peppa Pig, and provided the voice for characters in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.

His in-person acting roles included Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Casualty.

Entertainment

Cleo Sylvestre: ‘Trailblazing’ actress dies aged 79

Published

8 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Cleo Sylvestre: 'Trailblazing' actress dies aged 79

“Trailblazing” actress Cleo Sylvestre who starred in films, soap operas and stage plays has died aged 79, her agent has said.

Sylvestre, also known as Cleopatra Palmer, appeared in productions as diverse as Crossroads, Shakespeare’s As You Like It and the first Paddington movie.

A spokesperson for Fulcrum Talent said: “It is with deep regret that I have to announce the sad news that Cleo Sylvestre MBE died this morning.

“Much loved and admired by her peers, she will be remembered as a trailblazer and a true friend. She will be sorely missed by so many.”

Sylvestre was also a singer and recorded with The Rolling Stones, who backed her on a 1964 cover of To Know Him Is To Love Him. She later worked as a musician with her blues band Honey B Mama And Friends.

Born in Hertfordshire in April 1945, she was brought up in London by her mother Laureen Sylvestre and studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

She was made an MBE in 2023 for services to drama and charity and was married to Ian Palmer until his death in 1995.

Sylvestre enjoyed roles in some of TV’s best-known shows, including playing Melanie Harper, the adopted daughter of Meg Richardson in ITV’s long-running Crossroads, during the 1970s.

Other TV roles came in The Bill, New Tricks, Till Death Do Us Part, Grange Hill, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

Her more recent parts included ITV thriller Platform 7, and Channel 5’s revamp of All Creatures Great And Small.

Sylvestre began her acting career on the stage and was the first black actress to take a leading role in a National Theatre production – in National Health in 1969.

She made her Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut playing Audrey in a 2023 production of As You Like It.

Her film roles have ranged from the 2014 film Paddington, Kidulthood from 2006 and 1993’s The Punk.

US-born playwright and author Bonnie Greer wrote on X that Sylvestre was “one of the reasons that-from my vantage point in NYC (New York City) that I thought that this country has the best anglophone theatre, and the best place to be a Black woman in it”.

She added: “I still think that. Thank you, Cleo!”

Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the UK’s first sickle cell nurse specialist, wrote that she was “devastated” at the death of her “wonderful, kind friend”.

Entertainment

Painting of nude woman prompts police visit at Powys art gallery

Published

14 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Painting of nude woman prompts police visit at Powys art gallery

A painting of a nude woman with her legs open has prompted a police visit to an art gallery in Mid Wales.

The painting is on display in the window of The Table in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.

Warning: The image below shows the painting

According to gallery owner Val Harris, the police have asked her to remove the painting under the Public Order Act, but she has refused to do so.

Ms Harris told Sky News the response the painting had received from some people was “shocking” and “rather sad”.

“We had the police here under the Public Order Act. They’d had complaints,” she said.

“I’m not prepared to take it out of the window. I run an art gallery, I support my artists, so that’s where we got to.

“And Poppy [Baynham, the artist] wants to keep it in the window, if she wanted to move it ’cause she was finding it too traumatic, I would have respected whatever she wanted.”

The painting formed part of the gallery’s It’s Party Time exhibition.

Some of the complaints were read out in a public meeting on Thursday afternoon, called so people could ask questions about the artwork.

One complaint was that the painting was “not suitable for children”, while another described it as “very sexualised”.

Baynham told Sky News it was “only supportive people” who attended the meeting after the complaints had been made.

“I think everyone who didn’t like the painting was just a bit scared to show their faces obviously. So it turned out really, really great, a lot of people showed up,” she said.

“I couldn’t do it without the support, I think I would have given in if it was all hate.”