The Crown’s cast have pulled off an acting triumph under immense pressure: Tony Earnshaw

Those questions have been in the forefront of my mind in recent days as I have binged on the latest season of The Crown. Moreover I have watched from a distance as TV lovers have drawn up battle lines over fact versus fiction and the characterisations of those involved. One thing’s for sure: the performances are impressively solid. Setting aside artistic licence and the combining of fact with fiction, there is also the very big issue of factionalism.

In other words, if there were, are and ever will be different factions within the House of Windsor, so that same factionalism is played out amongst TV audiences.

There will be many for whom The Crown is merely an exemplar of sumptuous television at its best. There are others who will view it as quasi history; they’ll believe what they see. And then there is another facet of the audience that will watch and draw very different conclusions from the scripting, direction and drama being played out on the small screen.

Actors frequently remark that they are only as good as the words on the page. And in terms of The Crown, some of that scripting is very fine indeed. But it’s the sheer quality of the acting that lingers, from Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth II to Gillian Anderson’s Iron Lady via Josh O’Connor’s Prince of Wales to Emma Corrin as Diana and Kevin McNally as Bernard Ingham.

Most actors are rarely given the chance to make an ascent of Everest. Classic roles – Medea, Blanche Dubois, King Lear, James Tyrone – might be on the thespian’s bucket list but truly iconic parts are represented by the dramatis personae of The Crown.

One can only wonder and marvel at the homework required to prepare for such a job. The discipline around accent, intonation, posture and physicality. The confidence to wear a uniform or a regal gown, and the innate elegance to carry it off authentically. Such elements are tools, and actors must possess them. Yet the supreme overbearing aspect must be the burden of knowing that some members of the royal family could be tuning in to watch and recognise and criticise.

Some actors don’t read reviews but I wonder whether Colman, Anderson et al get an inkling about their work via palace sources.

It’s a somewhat terrifying notion and not one that I would want to contemplate if I were in their shoes. Love it or loathe it, The Crown is to be admired for its tremendous ensemble.

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