‘The Crown': New series regally explores reign of Queen Elizabet

08:23 • 03.11.16
Culture

To get the obvious out of the way, "The Crown" is gorgeously produced, impeccably cast and deals with a tantalizing period in British history. It is also grindingly slow, and occasionally feels like it's recycling material previously covered in other movies and miniseries.


The good outweighs the disclaimers, in a project that oozes class from every pore. The 10-episode series should fill a bit of the void left among those pining for "Downton Abbey," even if this is all upstairs, no downstairs, and doesn't attain that level of soapy addictiveness.


Writer-producer Peter Morgan - whose credits include "The Queen" - has contributed to the high bar surrounding dramatic treatment of the Royal Family in and around this historical window, ranging from "The King's Speech" to the TV movies "Into the Storm" and "The Queen's Sister." Those expectations prevent this Netflix show from being an unqualified crowning achievement.

The series opens with King George VI (Jared Harris) still on the throne, but his health is failing. His eventual death elevates 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth (Claire Foy), who is quickly told that the person she was no longer exists. (Fortunately, flashbacks keep George -- and Harris -- in the picture, augmenting the outstanding ensemble.)


In subsequent episodes (and the entire run was viewed), Elizabeth's new life is largely defined by a trio of major relationships: Her husband Philip ("Doctor Who's" Matt Smith), who chafes at their revised circumstances; the curmudgeonly Winston Churchill (John Lithgow), whose vitality is fading; and younger sister Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), a freer spirit, who inconveniently falls in love with Peter Townsend (Ben Miles), a significantly older and, scandalously, divorced officer who had been her father's right hand.

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