Love it or hate it, Netflix has given viewers an early Christmas present this weekend.
For fans there are six more new episodes of The Crown to binge-watch, featuring all your favourite characters: Charles, Philip, Wills, Anne, Diana, Margaret, The Queen and more.
Those who denounce the series as a deplorable and inaccurate intrusion into the private lives of the British Royal Family can celebrate that this is the finale. After six series and a total of 60 episodes beginning in November 2016, it’s over.
It seemed appropriate that this cheeky exercise in lese majeste made its first appearance shortly after the Brexit referendum which overturned so many establishment norms, allegedly shared by the nation’s elite.
The seeds which germinated into The Crown were actually planted earlier in 1997, with two events which also transformed Britain’s view of itself and the world’s view of us, both of which also drive the narrative of series six: the election of Tony Blair’s New Labour government and the death of Princess Diana.
The Crown has been one of the major television events of the past decade.
The quality of its scripts, acting and production have made it superbly entertaining, while perhaps a guilty pleasure for British audiences, His or Her Majesty’s subjects.
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Inevitably The Crown is remoulding how the public views the monarchy, to the fury of its critics who insist that it is made-up fiction even though it is about real people and actual events, all within the lived experience of many of its viewers.
Stephen Frears, probably Britain’s greatest living director, takes the credit or blame for kicking off the trend in reality drama.
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Peter Morgan, The Crown’s creator, wrote the script for The Deal, Frears’ 2003 TV movie about the so-called Granita pact between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown over the Labour leadership.
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Morgan and Frears then made the film, The Queen, about the aftermath of Diana’s death, with Helen Mirren winning an Oscar in the title role and Michael Sheen continuing as Blair. One of the challenges for Morgan, who initially expressed doubts about going ahead with the current series six, has been going over the same events concerning Dodi Fayed and Diana for a second time.
Morgan specialises in making drama out of the challenges faced by real people of influence including David Frost, President Nixon, Bill Clinton, Freddie Mercury and the anti-porn campaigner Lord Longford.
After The Queen, his successful stage play The Audience, was effectively a dry run for The Crown, imagining Elizabeth II’s weekly private encounters with numerous prime ministers during her long reign.
Image: William, Charles and Harry in The Crown. Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
Reviewing the Crown finale, The Guardian’s critic Jack Seale identified “the overriding theme… that has underpinned Peter Morgan’s scripts all along: a life of public service, we are told, is a burden that demands great personal sacrifice, with the main loss being one’s happiness”.
This certainly colours the portrayal of the main male members of the Royal Family.
Charles, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and William are treated with more sympathy and understanding of their dilemmas than is commonplace in commentary about them.
“You do sort of fight for your guy,” Dominic West who plays Charles told Kate McCann and I on Times Radio, adding: “You give your character the benefit of the doubt”.
Image: Prince Harry and Prince William in The Crown Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
Sir Jonathan Pryce, who takes the role of Prince Philip, agreed: “I talked to the carriage driving people I trained with and they all absolutely loved him.”
As a viewer I found the interactions between the three men in the months after William’s loss of his mother, depicted in episode five, harrowing to watch. One of Dominic West’s sons played the role of William in the last series but, he told us: “I was glad my son wasn’t playing in this season just because of the very heavy nature.”
There has already been much comment about Morgan’s decision to bring back Diana and Dodi Fayed from the dead to speak briefly to other characters as ghosts in the early episodes of this final series.
In my opinion this was done tastefully and helped with the exposition of the narrative. Perhaps I am being indulgent because of my own small part in what The Guardian identifies as “the riskiest moment in the new episodes, a dream sequence in which the Queen imagines her reign being ended by the new king, Tony Blair”.
At the coronation, choristers sing an eerie a cappella version of Things Can Only Get Better.
Image: Dominic West as Prince Charles and Olivia Williams as Camilla. Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
Her Majesty’s nightmare is shown as a news bulletin item – voiced by me.
Other broadcasters are heard in the series often reporting events which really happened. My few lines in The Crown are fantasy to a purpose. I have also played versions of my broadcast persona on Spooks and in several other TV series and on screen in a touring theatrical production.
Of my old colleagues, Bob Friend played a newscaster in Mission Impossible and Jeremy Thompson reported in Volcano and Shaun Of The Dead. I also seem to remember Andrew Marr popping up outside Downing Street in an episode of Doctor Who.
In each appearance we were lending what credibility we have as real-life journalists to make a fiction seem more realistic. This is of a piece with the criticisms of The Crown for turning the real Royal Family into TV drama.
Image: Kate Middleton in The Crown Pic: Justin Downing/Netflix
Such moonlighting is fun but worth thinking about before you commit to doing it. For me, it all depends on the quality of the show. I admire The Crown and Peter Morgan’s work for its insight into issues of the day.
The series has also had very high production values throughout. I defy anyone not to be impressed by the magnificence and the wit of the Blair coronation scenes. I’m glad I lent my voice to them.
Through the six series the royals have been played by a succession of actors, not always to the taste of some Royalists.
When Olivia Coleman took over from Claire Foy as the Queen, Baron Charles Moore of Etchingham famously took to the pages of The Spectator to complain that she had a “left-wing face”.
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The surviving members of the real Royal Family have stuck to protocol wisely and not commented about the way The Crown has depicted them. Their fictional avatars have been shown characters sensitively in the round and have probably increased public understanding of them.
At a preview screening of some episodes, one member of the audience leant over to Sir Jonathan Pryce commenting: “That’s the Royal Family saved for another 50 years then.”
Having played Prince Philip – “a wonderful father and grandfather, apart from Charles” – Pryce is more measured: “If we are going to have a Royal Family, I think this one with Charles and William is a good one to have.”
Salt Path author Raynor Winn has said claims she lied about her story are “highly misleading” and called suggestions her husband made up his illness “utterly vile”.
A report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the hit book, billed as an “inspiring and life-affirming true story” about a couple’s coastal trek.
Winn released a lengthy statement denying the paper’s claims and shared medical letters apparently sent to her husband, Moth, that appear to support a diagnosis for a rare neurological condition, Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
One letter mentions his prior “CBS [Corticobasal Syndrome] diagnosis”, while another concludes he has “an atypical form” of CBD.
The author said accusations he lied about having CBD/CBS are false and have “emotionally devastated” him.
Image: Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of his story, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, ended their relationship with the family following The Observer’s claims.
Winn said she had never suggested walking was “some sort of miracle cure” and that there can be “symptoms for many years before they finally reach a diagnosis”.
“Even then, many sufferers’ symptoms present in an atypical way,” she wrote.
“They might not present with the same symptoms, occurring in the same order, or with the same severity.”
Image: The memoir was turned into a film, released. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Winn also posted the letters on Instagram and said they are grateful Moth’s condition is slow-progressing.
She clarified it is now commonly referred to by specialists as CBS, “which describes the symptoms observed during life”.
The bestselling book was also recently released as a film, starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson, charting the couple’s 630-mile trek along the Cornish, Devon, and Dorset coast – a journey sparked by the devastation of losing their house.
The Observer claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, rather they lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer, Martin Hemming, and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with Mr Hemmings wasn’t the reason they lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
Winn added: “I reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings because I did not have the evidence required to support what happened. The terms of the settlement were willingly agreed by both parties.”
The author reiterated the book’s version of events: that the loss of their home in Wales stemmed from an investment in a friend’s property portfolio that went sour.
Her statement goes into legal detail about how it transpired and admits – as The Observer suggested – that the couple at one point tried to raffle the house.
However, the author said they “quickly realised it was a mistake as it clearly wasn’t going to work. We cancelled it and refunded the few participants.”
The 63-year-old also denied having any outstanding debts and said it was “blatantly untrue” the couple were hiding behind pseudonyms after The Observer quoted people who said they knew them by the surname Walker.
“Winn is my maiden name and like most women who have married I’ve used both my maiden name, Winn, and married name, Walker,” said the statement.
She also explained she preferred the first name Raynor, rather than her birth name Sally Ann, so took that as her pen name; while Moth is an abbreviation of her husband’s name, Timothy.
“The legal names we use on our bank records, our utility bills etc. Our friends and neighbours use Sal and Tim interchangeably with Ray and Moth – there is nothing hiding in our names,” she said.
Sky News has contacted The Observer for a response to Winn’s statement.
Raynor Winn had been scheduled to make numerous appearances over the summer, performing with Saltlines, her collaboration with Gigspanner Big Band.
However, the band has since announced on social media that she will no longer be taking part in the tour.
She was also scheduled to take part in various Q&As, conversations, writing courses and festivals.
Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said.
The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and pronounced dead.
His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star’s death, reported NBC Los Angeles.
With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department considers the case closed.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen’s film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City.
He was also known for his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.
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Image: Madsen played numerous roles, including Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety.
She wrote: “My brother Michael has left the stage.
“He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother – etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”
Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems.
A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by “one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors” was currently being edited.
Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”