The cast behind Netflix’s new series of The Crown

Olivia Colman says they had her at ‘tiara’. Josh O’Connor of The Durrells was all ears (his are perfect!) for Prince Charles. The stars and creators of The Crown on the inside story of the Netflix show that’s changed TV forever 

There is no room for choice in a hereditary monarchy. So when the makers of Netflix hit The Crown came to replace Claire Foy (who played the Queen in series one and two) with an older actress, there could only ever be one heir to the throne: Olivia Colman.

Colman, who claimed her first Oscar last month for her portrayal of another monarch, Queen Anne, in The Favourite, was in her car when her phone rang with the offer of the role. ‘It’s something about a tiara,’ whispered her agent, keen to keep the deal secret.

Claire Foy

When the makers of Netflix hit The Crown came to replace Claire Foy (right) with an older actress, there could only ever be one heir to the throne: Olivia Colman (left)

The Queen (Olivia Colman) and Charles (Josh O’Connor) after his investiture as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle

The Queen (Olivia Colman) and Charles (Josh O’Connor) after his investiture as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle

The Queen and Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) during a picnic at Balmoral

 The Queen and Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) during a picnic at Balmoral

Charles and Camilla (Emerald Fennell) snapped during their famous meeting at a polo match in Cirencester Park, 1975

Charles and Camilla (Emerald Fennell) snapped during their famous meeting at a polo match in Cirencester Park, 1975

‘Oh, it’s The Crown!’ yelled Colman, who had just watched the first series in a three-night binge. A meeting was swiftly scheduled with executive producer Andy Harries and writer Peter Morgan in the discreet art deco grandeur of the Beaumont Hotel in London’s Mayfair. ‘When we arrived she was already at the table,’ says Harries. ‘As we sat down, before we even said anything, Olivia went, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”’ There would be no interregnum – in that moment a new queen was crowned.

And her court will be crammed with new faces, too. Game Of Thrones star Tobias Menzies is taking over from Matt Smith as Prince Philip with Helena Bonham Carter stepping into the party shoes of Princess Margaret, formerly played by Vanessa Kirby.

DID YOU KNOW? 

Netflix spent £750 million in Europe and the UK producing 140 programmes in 2018, with The Crown’s rumoured £100 million budget making it the streaming giant’s most expensive show.

The third series of the multi-award-winning show, which has spearheaded Netflix’s TV revolution, promises new politics (Britain’s first socialist government since the end of World War Two and entry into the European Union) and new tensions within the Royal household.

The Crown has always taken dramatic licence, speculating about the private feelings of a woman who never speaks publicly of them. Controversially, its creators have also shown themselves unafraid to take liberties with historical fact for the sake of juicier drama. Chronicling the years from 1964 to 1977, this series promises to be no different.

It must explore the growing gap between the pomp and tradition of the Royal Family and youth-quake Britain, the entry of Camilla Parker Bowles into Prince Charles’s orbit and the collapse of Princess Margaret’s marriage to the Earl of Snowdon amid her torrid affair with Roddy Llewellyn, 17 years her junior. It will also depict the eight days it took the Queen to visit her people at Aberfan after a slag heap collapsed on the Welsh mining village killing 144, 116 of whom were children attending junior school. That was in 1966, and half a century later, Her Majesty still regards this moment, when palace protocol triumphed over human compassion, as one of the greatest regrets of her reign.

Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter). The third series  promises new politics and new tensions within the Royal household

Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter). The third series  promises new politics and new tensions within the Royal household

Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) and lover Roddy Llewellyn (Harry Treadaway) on the beach

Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) and lover Roddy Llewellyn (Harry Treadaway) on the beach

The Crown has always taken dramatic licence, speculating about the private feelings of a woman who never speaks publicly of them

The Crown has always taken dramatic licence, speculating about the private feelings of a woman who never speaks publicly of them

Such is the enduring sensitivity surrounding the Aberfan disaster that The Crown did not film in the village itself. Benjamin Caron, lead director and executive producer, says he sought both ‘truth and dignity’ and chose instead to use a school in Cwmaman to represent the Pantglas Junior, after listening to the concerns of local people. Colman has been seen filming on location wearing an orange coat with a fur trim, mirroring the monarch’s outfit when she finally visited the stricken community.

The series opens on the day of the 1964 general election, which brought Harold Wilson, played by Jason Watkins, to power. It climaxes with the monarch’s 1977 Silver Jubilee, a national celebration that almost foundered on fears it would seem out of touch with the inflation and three-day weeks that had ravaged Britain’s household budgets. In the end, it renewed the bonds between the Queen and her country.

The season finale casts The Crown three decades forward from the show’s beginning in 1947 and it is this time span that has necessitated the change of cast. ‘No ongoing show has ever done this,’ admits Harries. ‘It is an extraordinary and bold experiment.’ The way this transition is portrayed has not been revealed but Morgan has written a specific scene that covers the switch from Foy to Colman.

Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully in Game Of Thrones) stars as the Duke of Edinburgh opposite Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth

Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully in Game Of Thrones) stars as the Duke of Edinburgh opposite Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth

One of the standout episodes will undoubtedly be the 1969 investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales. The Durrells’ Josh O’Connor joins the cast as Prince Charles, growing from Gordonstoun schoolboy and Cambridge undergraduate to youthful prince in the harsh glare of public life. ‘I am thrilled to be joining The Firm,’ says O’Connor, ‘and I’m reliably informed I have the ears for the part.’

The historic ceremony at Caernarfon Castle has been faithfully recreated for the show. It is thought to have cost even more than the rumoured £5 million price tag of each episode of The Crown.

Meet the all-new cast

Prince Philip 

Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully in Game Of Thrones) stars as the Duke of Edinburgh opposite Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth. The series will include an episode on the Apollo 11 Moon landing and show how Prince Philip reacted to that momentous event. 

Princess Margaret 

Helena Bonham Carter replaces Vanessa Kirby as the Queen’s sister, and we’ll see the blossoming of her affair with gardening expert Roddy Llewellyn, which leads to divorce. 

Prince Charles 

Josh O’Connor (Larry in ITVs The Durrells) will be taking on the role of Prince Charles in his late teens and early 20s following his experiences at university and looking at his personal life – notably his early romance with Camilla Parker Bowles in the Seventies. 

The Queen Mother 

Marion Bailey, who starred with Brad Pitt in Allied, takes on this pivotal role. In 1972, with Elizabeth on a tour of South-East Asia, the Queen Mother acted as Counsellor of State, declaring a state of emergency during a National Union of Mineworkers’s strike. 

The Prime Minister 

Line Of Duty star Jason Watkins plays Harold Wilson, who served two terms as PM and worked closely with Queen Elizabeth II on abolishing capital punishment and stopping discrimination against women and minorities. 

Tony Armstrong-Jones 

Ben Daniels (House Of Cards) replaces Matthew Goode as Tony Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret’s husband. They had a passionate, tempestuous marriage for 18 years until their divorce, and season three will show the demise of their marriage.

The investiture took place the same year as the Apollo Moon landing, and Tobias Menzies reveals that another key episode will portray the thrilling impact of this new space age on Buckingham Palace. ‘Peter Morgan has taken the angle that Philip gets very absorbed by the heroism of these men, which maybe throws a light on what he hasn’t done with his own life.’

Menzies is, of course, referring to Philip’s unfulfilled desire to continue his swashbuckling naval career, ended prematurely by the death of King George VI in 1952 and his wife’s ascendancy to the throne aged 25. This sacrifice and the fissures it caused in the couple’s marriage is an enduring theme carried over from the first two series.

The key character of Diana, Princess of Wales will not be introduced until series four, but series three offers a glimpse of the woman who would both precede and follow her in Prince Charles’s affections, Camilla Parker Bowles. The Duchess of Cornwall is played by Call The Midwife’s Emerald Fennell. ‘I absolutely love Camilla,’ she says, ‘and am very grateful that my teenage years have well prepared me for playing a chain-smoking serial snogger with a pudding-bowl haircut.’

DID YOU KNOW? 

Netflix is launching a new interactive series starring adventure survivalist Bear Grylls, You vs Wild, where the audience makes decisions whether he succeeds or fails

The show’s creators are currently hunting for their Diana, with The Little Drummer Girl actress Florence Pugh, 23, and Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton, 25, both the subject of speculation. The Crown’s casting team have spoken of their search for a ‘staggeringly talented young actress’ with a ‘mesmerising range’ to take the character from world-class flirt and fairy-tale bride to troubled self-harmer.

Filming for series four will begin this summer, starting with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, covering the Falklands War and the miners’ strike and ending with Mrs Thatcher’s political demise in 1990. Gillian Anderson, who is in a relationship with Morgan, has already been cast as the Iron Lady.

The promise of Anderson, Colman and the career-defining role of Diana makes series four of The Crown look completely compelling. Almost as compelling in fact, as the real-life family drama it represents. 

‘The Crown’ series three is out later this year

 

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