It is the beginning of the end for The Crown, much praised for its A-list acting and circa $277,000-per-minute production values, but widely criticised for its screenwriter Peter Morgan inventing dialogue for the royal family in actual and imagined situations. On Thursday, Netflix releases the first four parts of the sixth and final series, with the last six to follow next month. This run is expected to begin with the death in Paris of Princess Diana – though with actress Elizabeth Debicki rumoured to reappear as the princess’s ghost – which suggests that Morgan and the producers (Left Bank Pictures) have not been cowed by rows over taste.
But as it ends, it’s increasingly clear what The Crown started: a seismic shift in royal representation on stage and screen. Take two new plays just opened in London: Backstairs Billy, by Marcelo dos Santos, imagines the relationship between the queen mother and her closest servant, Billy Tallon; while Jonathan Maitland’s The Interview explores the 1995 Panorama interview Diana gave to Martin Bashir.
