The Crown dealt with one of most sensitive eras of the Royal Family – and I found it harrowing
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple 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.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“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 first fan started queuing before 8am.
Heaton Park, just north of Manchester City centre, is tonight hosting 80,000 fans who’ve come to see the Gallaghers’ homecoming.
“I would honestly say it’s a real cultural moment of the 21st century,” says Sam, who’s from Manchester and has come here with a group of friends – including one who has travelled from Australia for the gig.
Oasis fans wear band T-shirts with the almost obligatory bucket hats. Pic: Reuters
This will be the fourth time Sam has seen Oasis play, although obviously not for many years, and he says he can’t wait for the moment the band comes on to the stage.
“The reaction from the fans, that’s going to be really special,” he says. “This band means so much to the North West.”
Like many people attending tonight’s concert, Sam is wearing a bucket hat.
Liam Gallagher’s iconic headgear has become a part of the band’s cultural legacy and they are certainly on display here, with street vendors popping up all around the park’s perimeter.
Another fan, Dean, tells me he feels incredibly lucky to have got a ticket at all.
“I had seven devices out when the tickets were released and I didn’t get one,” he says. “And then about three days ago, a friend of mine messaged to say she couldn’t make it.
“So I made it. £120 with coach travel there and back – perfect.”
Dom has flown from half a world away to be in Manchester tonight
Dom is another fan who has come from Australia for the gig.
“We’re frothing to be here, like so stoked,” he says, “The atmosphere is going to be electric.”
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One young couple are here on their honeymoon. From Italy, they met at a Liam Gallagher concert several years ago.
“It’s where we fell in love,” Claudia says. “And we got married last month so we wanted to be here to celebrate.”
Amanda, from Manchester, is also here with a loved one – well, sort of.
Amanda has found a way to make sure her son, who lives in Australia, is there in spirit
She’s wearing a paper cut-out mask of her 30-year-old son Harry’s face.
“He’s in Melbourne and got a ticket but then couldn’t come,” Amanda explains.
“And so Harry doesn’t feel left out,” she says pulling the mask down over her face, “we’ve brought him with us!”
Entertainment
Chris Brown: R&B singer denies further charges following alleged bottle attack in London club
R&B singer Chris Brown has denied further charges following an alleged bottle attack in a London nightclub.
The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) to music producer Abraham Diaw, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Brown also denied one count of having an offensive weapon – a bottle – in a public place.
Chris Brown arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. Pic: PA
The Grammy-winning US musician last month pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Mr Diaw.
The attack allegedly happened at the Tape venue, a private members’ club in Hanover Square, Mayfair, on 19 February 2023.
The plea hearing is part of preparations for his five to seven-day trial, which is due to take place from 26 October 2026.
Brown’s co-defendant, US national Omololu Akinlolu, 39, on Friday pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Mr Diaw occasioning him actual bodily harm.
Akinlolu, a rapper who goes by the name Hoody Baby, has previously pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
Brown’s co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
The defendants sat side-by-side in the dock, looking straight ahead during the hearing in London.
Around 20 fans sat in the public gallery behind the dock for Friday’s hearing, with several gasping as Brown walked into the courtroom.
The Go Crazy singer was able to continue with his scheduled international tour after he was freed on conditional bail in May.
He had to pay a £5m security fee to the court as part of the bail agreement, which is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court and may be forfeited if they breach bail conditions.
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Mr Diaw was standing at the bar of the Tape nightclub when he was struck several times with a bottle, and then pursued to a separate area of the venue where he was punched and kicked repeatedly, Manchester Magistrates’ Court previously heard.
Brown was arrested at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel at 2am on 15 May by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
He is said to have flown into Manchester Airport on a private jet in preparation for the UK tour dates.
Brown was released from HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 21 May.
The singer, who rose to stardom as a teenager in 2005, won his first Grammy award for best R&B album in 2011 for F.A.M.E..
He earned his second in the same category for 11:11 (Deluxe) earlier this year.
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