Memorable storylines include Winston Churchill’s hatred and eventual destruction of the Graham Sutherland portrait given to him as a gift by parliament, Harold MacMillan’s infamous visit to Beyond the Fringe and, of course, the discovery that the man looking after the Queen’s portraits was … something that’s been dramatised before but is done here with new twists.
An entire and painstakingly researched episode is given over to the Aberfan disaster and through the use of CGI we can now get a better picture of what actually happened to kill 116 children and 28 adults in a single day. This entirely preventable man (and woman but it was mostly men) made disaster was and remains indescribably tragic. All we were told when I was growing up was “some coal fell on a school” which leaves so much blank…
There are lighter episodes too such as when Prince Charles is sent to Wales to learn Welsh and puts everyone’s backs up. And lesser known bits of history are explored such as the rescuing of Princess Alice of Battenberg (Phillip’s estranged mother) from Greece in 1967 to become Buckingham Palace’s chain smoking nun in residence.
Superb performances as well from both the young cast Matt Smith and Claire Foy and the older cast which includes the perfectly cast Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. The disintegration of her marriage to Lord Snowdon and his manipulation of her own family against her in an attempt to disguise the fact he abuses her is a fantastic piece of writing and acting by everyone involved. So lucky that most of these people are dead and can’t sue. One wonders if Series 4 will be as easy legally…
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