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Home , Benjamin Caron, David Rintoul, Gillian Anderson, Lithgow Plot, Marion Bailey, Michael Fagan (intruder)

SLEZSKÁ UNIVERZITA V OPAVĚ

Filozoficko-přírodovědecká fakulta v Opavě

Marcela Cimprichová

Obor: Angličtina a Český jazyk a literatura

The TV Series and its Reception in the Czech

Republic and Great Britain

Bakalářská práce

Opava 2021 Vedoucí bakalářské práce: Mgr. Marie Crhová, Ph.D.

Abstract

This bachelor thesis deals with the series The Crown. The first part focuses on the creator and writer , his work, and the TV series itself. The second part covers the popularity and reception of the series by the media in the Czech Republic and Great Britain. In , the thesis compares the reception of The Crown in these two countries. The aim of thesis is the comparison of perception from media in the Czech and British environments.

Keywords: The Crown, TV series, Peter Morgan, Queen Elizabeth II, media reception

Abstrakt

Tato bakalářská práce pojednává o výpravném historickém seriálu Koruna. První část se věnuje tvůrci a scenáristovi Peteru Morganovi, jeho dílu a samotnému seriálu. Druhá část se zabývá popularitou a přijetím seriálu v médiích v České republice a ve Velké Británii. V závěru práce srovná hodnocení seriálu v těchto dvou zemích. Cílem práce je srovnání mediálního ohlasu v českém a britském prostředí.

Klíčová slova: Koruna, TV seriál, Peter Morgan, královna Alžběta II, mediální ohlas

Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto práci vypracovala samostatně. Veškeré prameny a literaturu, které jsem pro vyhotovení práce využila, řádně cituji a uvádím v seznamu použité literatury a internetových zdrojů.

V Opavě dne ...... 2021 Podpis: ...... Marcela Cimprichová

Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Marie Crhová, Ph.D. for her kind help, support, and valuable advice. I also want to thank my family and friends for their and encouragement. Contents

Introduction ...... 1

1 The writer and TV series ...... 2

1.1 Peter Morgan and his work...... 2

1.2 The Crown ...... 3

1.3 Awards ...... 5

2 Reception ...... 5

2.1 Czech reviews ...... 5

2.2 British reviews ...... 13

2.3 Comparison ...... 20

Conclusion ...... 23

Bibliography ...... 24

Appendix

1

Introduction

In the last decades, it has been common in the film industry to depict famous figures or events from history. A lifelong interest of screenwriter Peter Morgan in public figures led to the creation of scripts for films, plays, and lastly TV series about prime ministers or the members of the royal family in Great Britain. His first significant piece of work about Queen Elizabeth II was the 2006 movie The Queen. play named was another important work, premiered in 2013. These two works were the inspiration for creating more extensive work that could render a bigger part concerning the royal family’s life and mainly the life of the monarch, and so Peter Morgan’s successful historical drama series The Crown arose. The series was inspired by the life of the longest-reigning British monarch and the history and political situation in Great Britain. The main aim of this thesis is to compare the perception of The Crown series from Czech and British media. The methods used are analysis and comparison. The materials used for the thesis mainly include articles and reviews from quality media in the Czech Republic and Great Britain. It is specifically Český rozhlas (Czech Radio) and ČT art (Czech Television, Channel Art) that specializes in culture. In Great Britain, the reviews are taken from BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and further from broadsheets, as they are usually referred to, The Telegraph and . The thesis is divided into two chapters with additional sub-chapters. The first chapter focuses on the screenwriter’s personal life, his work, and the TV series. The second chapter unfolds the perception of the series in quality media in the Czech Republic and Great Britain. The reviews are sorted out into the evaluated topics, namely portrayal of the royals and acting performances, depiction of relationships between characters, the recast, Peter Morgan and his dramatization, episodes, the problem of fact and fiction of the TV series, and appreciation. Lastly, the sorted topics are compared one by one as Czech and British media evaluate them. 2

1 The writer and TV series

1.1 Peter Morgan and his work

Peter Morgan is a British writer, well-known as screenwriter and playwright, who was born on April 10, 1963, in . He is one of the most prominent figures in creating The Crown series. His parents came to as refugees who escaped from chaotic Europe in the Second World War. Growing up was not so easy for young Peter after his father died when he was nine years old. He did what his father could not, graduated from the University. While studying at the University of Leeds, he found his passion for theatre. In the beginning, he was pursuing the idea of being an actor.1 He quickly discovered that he does not have a talent for acting, however, work as a writer made him able to stay in his beloved environment – theatre. Peter Morgan was asked at Febiofest: Prague International Film Festival in the interview about the moment he decided to write. He answered that he had not wanted to be a writer at all. He called himself a “reluctant writer” because he simply had never wanted to write. He continued that then he was happy to be a writer, to have a job, where he could at least do as many other things as writing – casting, producing, working in the cutting room. His journey had been one of falling in love with writing.2 The important turning point in his career was The Deal, a 2003 British film. The idea came to him when he was waiting for a plane at Gatwick Airport and saw a book The Rivals, that immediately drew his attention because of a specific artwork on the cover. The artwork portrayed a black-and-white photograph of Tony Blair (former prime minister) and Gordon Brown (his opponent), which reminded him of characters from a play.3 From this point onwards, he dedicated his life to writing about public figures. Another significant piece of work, about the royal family, was the 2006 movie The Queen, where starred Queen Elizabeth II and won the Oscar for Best

1 Giles Harvey, "How the Man Behind 'The Crown' Made the Monarchy Relevant Again", 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/magazine/the-crown-peter-morgan.html?smid=fb- nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0F5GWcmJRNz0GCmI2nyuzYxnqPSCDn2XAlN86LvolFr7UbY478 fpqymnc. 2 Peter Morgan, "Peter Morgan Master Class | MFF Praha – Febiofest", 2016, https://youtu.be/S3d4XwgAOr0. 3 Giles Harvey, "How the Man Behind 'The Crown' Made the Monarchy Relevant Again", 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/magazine/the-crown-peter-morgan.html?smid=fb- nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0F5GWcmJRNz0GCmI2nyuzYxnqPSCDn2XAlN86LvolFr7UbY478 fpqymnc 3

Actress.4 The movie depicts the death of Princess Diana and how the royal family, mainly the Queen, responds to it. The stage play named The Audience, which premiered in 2013, is about private meetings, in other words, the audience. These meetings have been held at for more than 60 years. Elizabeth, originally starred by Helen Mirren, meets her prime ministers. Morgan put together top moments of these private sessions that she had had during her long reign, from Churchill to . This play led Morgan to a deeper consideration of the relationship between old Churchill and young Elizabeth. He started to think of creating a film, but then he reconsidered and began working on TV series, which could cover more.5 The Queen and The Audience could only render a small piece of the extensive problematics concerning the royal family, and so the idea for The Crown series began to emerge from these two writings. In 2016, when the first season of the TV series was released, Peter Morgan was appointed C.B.E – Commander of the Order of the British Empire in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year Honours for his services to drama. There he had the opportunity to visit Buckingham Palace for the first time.6

1.2 The Crown

It is a historical drama inspired by the life of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest- reigning British monarch, as well as the political situation in her time. The story starts not long before she succeeded to the throne and will continue up to the present day. The series is broadcasted on , an American online subscription service, and produced by Left Bank Pictures, owned by Sony Pictures Television. It is the first Netflix original series produced and shot entirely in the United Kingdom.7 As much as BBC wanted to have a series about the royal family in its library, BBC does not meet the financial means to produce work with such a large scope. Dany Cohen, the BBC's head of television, said

4 "The Queen", 2006, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436697/. 5 Giles Harvey, "How the Man Behind 'The Crown' Made the Monarchy Relevant Again", 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/magazine/the-crown-peter-morgan.html?smid=fb- nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0F5GWcmJRNz0GCmI2nyuzYxnqPSCDn2XAlN86LvolFr7UbY478 fpqymnc 6 Giles Harvey, "How the Man Behind 'The Crown' Made the Monarchy Relevant Again", 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/magazine/the-crown-peter-morgan.html?smid=fb- nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0F5GWcmJRNz0GCmI2nyuzYxnqPSCDn2XAlN86LvolFr7UbY478 fpqymnc 7 "Netflix plans original UK drama about the Queen", 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment- arts-27539739. 4 that they could not compete with what Netflix was prepared to pay for a classic BBC subject.8 The Crown series consists of six seasons, each season has ten episodes, and it spans over roughly a decade. The episodes are mostly independent stories, but the main characters are involved and grow as individuals over the whole series. The series is not finished. So far there were released seasons 1 – 4. The upcoming seasons are planned for the next few years. It all begins with the first season, released on 4 November 2016. After the launch of the first episodes, this high-budget drama became successful in the world. The opening season covers the period from the Queen’s marriage to Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947 until the year 1955. The following season, released on 8 December 2017, depicts the period from in 1965 to the birth of Prince Edward in 1964. In the first two seasons the main characters were played by as Queen Elizabeth II, as Prince Philip, as Churchill, and as Princess Margaret. The third season spans the years 1964 to 1977, covers the two periods of as prime minister and introduces Charles’s lover Camilla Shand, and was released on 17 November 2019.9 The fourth season, released on 15 November 2020, spans 1979 to the early , introduces as prime minister and Lady Diana Spencer. The cast was replaced for the season three and four, and the seasons starred as Queen Elizabeth II, as Prince Philip, as Princess Diana, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, as Margaret Thatcher, and as Princess Margaret. The recast is meant to better illustrate characters that aged considerably through the whole series, stretched over more than five decades. The last two seasons will cover Queen Elizabeth’s reign into the 21st century and the recast is planned again. as the Queen will take The Crown to its end.10

8 Jane Martinson, "Netflix's glittering Crown could leave BBC looking a little dull", 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/31/netflix-glittering-crown--dull-launch-tv. 9 Dickie Arbiter, Victoria Arbiter, Stephen Bates, Francis Beckett, Hugh Costello, H. Mark Glancy, Sarah Gristwood, Ashley Jackson, Andrzej Olechnowicz, Ted Powell, Dominic Sandbrook, Kate Williams, Vojtěch Klíma, Kamil Rodan, František Stellner, Ludvík Pouzar, and Jiří Chodil, Královna Alžběta II. (Brno: Extra Publishing, 2020), 100. 10 Sophia Moir, "The Crown season 5: What will happen? Who are the new actors taking over the roles? All you need to know about Netflix's royal drama", 2021, https://www.bt.com/tv/drama/the-crown- season-5-netflix-cast-characters--start-date-time-period-true-story-history-plot-storyline-filming- locations. 5

1.3 Awards

The series has been very successful and won many awards from all around the world. It was nominated for 226 awards and won 89. Among them were Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Awards that are highly regarded awards. More specifically, the series won Golden Globes for Best Television Series – Drama in 2017 and 2021. Several actors were awarded, namely Claire Foy and Olivia Colman for Best Television Actress – Drama Series in 2017 and 2020, respectively. In 2021 Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor were honored for Best Television Actress/Actor – Drama Series, and Gillian Anderson for Best Supporting Actress – Television. The series received the Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for John Lithgow for his portrayal of in 2016 and the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Claire Foy for her role of Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. There are many more winnings in Primetime Emmy Awards, for example for Outstanding Production Design, Outstanding Period Costumes, Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Casting, and other prizes in different kinds of competitions. The full list of the awards is listed in the Appendix at the end of the thesis.11

2 Reception

2.1 Czech reviews

Czech reviews were taken from quality media, namely Český rozhlas (Czech Radio), the public service radio established in 1923 in the Czech Republic as the second oldest radio broadcaster in the world. Especially the station Český rozhlas Vltava (Czech Radio Vltava) specializes in culture. Moreover, ČT art (Czech Television, Channel Art) also delivers reviews on cultural topics and its aim is to inform about all cultural areas and disciplines in various footage and formats. The following reviews were divided into the evaluated topics, namely portrayal of the royals and acting performances, depiction of relationships between characters, the recast, Peter Morgan and his dramatization, episodes, the problem of fact and fiction of the TV series, and appreciation.

11 "The Crown", https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/awards.

6

Reviewers in Czech media discussed how the royal family members are portrayed in The Crown series and the acting performance. Stories from the modern history of the British monarchy are a popular topic, and the audience easily identifies with them.12 I agree about the popularity of the stories. Stories about the British royal family are regularly published in newspapers or on the internet, and their liking besides other things shows the series The Crown with its high ratings among the audience. I assume that the easy identification with royals varies between individuals and not everybody will agree with this statement. I would like to add to this subject a quote from actress Claire Foy: “With the Royal Family, you don’t want to see them as people because it takes the sheen off. They’re distant, you can idealize them. But there’s room to have compassion for people and see them as human beings. Just because they’re royalty, it doesn’t mean they don’t love or feel loss or feel pain.”13 The series humanizes the members of the royal family and an institution the ordinary people can never identify with. This humanization is a reason for people against monarchy why they do not like the series. The royals are not people who deal with similar problems nor have a similar background, at the same time, it is an argument for convinced royalists why they do not like the series. It is because the series portraits the whole royal family, not just Elizabeth II. Elizabeth is somebody who already matured to the position of the symbol. She realizes its limits and benefits, she manages to manoeuvre in it, but the rest of the family are often people who have problems to find some purpose, function, or role in their lives. They can hardly bear the feeling of importance that surrounds them because they do not find themselves important and it is terribly difficult for them to cope with figuring out what they are supposed to do in the eyes of the public. Overall, the monarchy is a certain institution that embodies specific ideas of traditional Britishness. The royals are in fact modern celebrities.14 One of the critics said that if the old British saying “the crown always finds its way to the right head” is truthful, it means the creators had especially a lucky hand when choosing the new main character. After Claire Foy, the acclaimed British actress Olivia

12 Vít Schmarc, "KRÁLOVSKÁ POHÁDKA I ARISTOKRATICKÝ HOROR. KORUNA NADÁLE VLÁDNE TELEVIZNÍMU MAINSTREAMU", 2020, https://art.ceskatelevize.cz/inside/kralovska- pohadka-i-aristokraticky-horor-koruna-nadale-vladne-televiznimu-mainstreamu-sA4w6. 13 Karen Dolby, The Wicked Witt of the Royal Family (London: Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2019), 3. 14 Pavel Sladký, Šárka Gmiterková, and Jarmila Křenková, “Nejlepší filmy a seriály a kde na ně koukat online", 2020, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/nejlepsi-filmy-a-serialy-a-kde-na-ne-koukat-online-8164577. 7

Colman took the place of Elizabeth II. In 2018, Olivia Colman won the Oscar for the depiction of another British queen, namely Anne Stuart, in the movie . She played Elizabeth II as an extremely complex character that learned how to hide her emotions and became a distant ruler overseeing the proper functioning of her country. Repressed emotions and tremors of anger or pain were the most apparent in aggravated situations with the members of her family. For example, in the scene of confrontation between her and her son Charles, just appointed the Prince of , it was difficult to distinguish when she spoke as a mother to her son or as a ruler to her successor. The contrast to the often-stoic queen embodies her sister Margaret, vivaciously played by Helena Bonham Carter. The theme of two siblings, from which one was predestined to become a head of state and live under the scrutiny of society, in a glare of spotlights, and the other one was made to live in her shadow. This became a leitmotif of the whole series, and it was ingeniously coming back in the storyline about Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Closing dialogue between sisters just before the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Elizabeth's accession to the throne revealed their strong bond, which definitely belongs to the highlights of the series.15 Two iconic heroines entered the story. Margaret Thatcher, who took over traditionally a male position of prime minister, and a young Princess Diana joining the royal family. Next to the childish, unstable and cordial Diana, Queen Elizabeth acted as an floe. Margaret Thatcher's hunched entrance when meeting the Queen gave Margaret a new, human dimension. The success of The Crown lies also in one strong supporting character in each season. For example, in the fourth season, this position took the Iron Lady played by the American actress Gillian Anderson, who turned the limits into an advantage. Her convulsive and fiercely articulating expressions required getting used to by the viewer, but subsequently, the conservative politician became a fascinating figure. The actress was able to bring a woman's vulnerability to the ruthless politician who decides the fate of the country. Even as a mother, Margaret could sometimes be as cruel as a politician, and Elizabeth was the same, which took her at least for a while out of her passivity towards her children, and thus brought a new alteration to the series. The expected story of Princess Diana and her relationship with Prince Charles brought a

15 Jan Bodnár, "Seriál Koruna je zpět. Británie se mění, královniny povinnosti zůstávají", 2019, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/serial-koruna-je-zpet-britanie-se-meni-kralovniny-povinnosti-zustavaji-8118702. 8 weakness with itself. It was a superficial and cheesy style of performance, which had indications of soap operas.16 Princess Diana, an expected character in The Crown series, was played by a young 24-year-old actress Emma Corrin. The actress received many positive reviews and appeared in every newspaper around the world. The director of the series Benjamin Kennen told the young promising actress that she could empathize with Diana, because after that season come out, she will become the world's celebrity, like Diana, and so it happened. The fourth season was one of the most expected seasons also thank another strong character. Margaret Thatcher became the next most watched part as well as a “fight” between her and Elizabeth II. One critic also said that Diana's story was told in the series as it was everywhere else, so the credibility had been preserved. However, talking about Prince Charles, he supposedly was not happy about his depiction in the series. At the same time, it seemed that the only person who liked Charles was Camilla Parker. His parents were lenient, but they were constantly disappointed by him, and they could not imagine him as a successor to the throne, which persisted to the present day. Reportedly, next year the Queen wants to abdicate and hand over the throne to Charles, although perhaps some people would like to skip Charles and let take the throne. By that Charles suffers a lot, but it is hard to say if that was really the case.17 Depiction of relationships members of the royal family is another topic considered in Czech media. The series was evaluated that it is not only a literal interpretation of British history, but it mainly concentrates on complicated family relationships within the monarchy. Lavishly decorated halls, great stairways, endless passages of Buckingham Palace became the setting for emotional and tense drama, illustrated, despite critical responses of opposition to monarchy, that to be the queen of the United Kingdom was never easy.18 In my view, the series has never been only a literal interpretation of British history, and it concentrates on a large scale at complicated relationships between the characters. We could see it many times throughout the whole

16 Vít Schmarc, "KRÁLOVSKÁ POHÁDKA I ARISTOKRATICKÝ HOROR. KORUNA NADÁLE VLÁDNE TELEVIZNÍMU MAINSTREAMU", 2020, https://art.ceskatelevize.cz/inside/kralovska- pohadka-i-aristokraticky-horor-koruna-nadale-vladne-televiznimu-mainstreamu-sA4w6. 17 Hana Trojánková Biriczová, and Šimon Holý, "The Crown: Vyznávejte svým dětem lásku, ať nedopadnou jako princ Charles", 2020, https://wave.rozhlas.cz/crown-vyznavejte-svym-detem-lasku- nedopadnou-jako-princ-charles-8368934. 18 Jan Bodnár, "Seriál Koruna je zpět. Británie se mění, královniny povinnosti zůstávají", 2019, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/serial-koruna-je-zpet-britanie-se-meni-kralovniny-povinnosti-zustavaji-8118702.

9 series, for example, in the conflict between Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne to marry , and the rest of the family, in Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend’s love affair, or moving to the fourth season in Princess Diana’s relationship with Prince Charles. And there were many more family ties illustrated in the series. Peter Morgan has been creating a complex picture of relations within the royal family for more than four years, and although some claims that he was uncritical or admiring to the royal family, a reviewer contradicted this. It was because the series revealed a problematic power structure that also functioned as a family, there were several strange rules overseen by the rigid Olivia Colman. She found herself in this role and played it fantastically. The Queen suppressed everything, especially the desires of others. But there was also a bit of a fairy tale, more like a soap opera.19 An interesting thing about the series is the recast of Claire Foy, Matt Smith and other cast members of the drama after the season one and two. In the third season came a completely new cast with Olivia Colman replacing Claire Foy for the role of the Queen. Critics found it as one of the best casts, or change to the cast, that could have been achieved because not only Olivia Colman was an outstanding actress, but she perfectly embodied what Peter Morgan wanted to do. And that was to capture the more advanced age of the Queen that was made possible by the exchange of the cast. The theme of the first two seasons was how Elizabeth II. coped with the rise to power, what it meant for her to carry the crown and what the crown represented, and this was reflected in the psychology and development of the character. In contrast, in the third season, we watched Elizabeth as an established ruler, after a great time shift, as a calm, public person, who we all know very well from previous decades. The conflict was shifted beyond her person, how she related to the problems of the country, faced crises, and solved more state than personal problems. This was the main difference from the first two seasons. The third season, therefore, offered characters in a different age category. An actress Vanessa Kirby was replaced as Princess Margaret by Helena Border Carter, which was a cast, for which there were very contradictory reactions because the visual appearance was not very accurate. But when we saw the result, the interaction between Elizabeth and her sister Margaret was one of the most precious moments that the series offered. Peter Morgan,

19 Aleš Stuchlý, Vít Schmarc, Antonín Tesař, Šárka Gmiterková, and Tereza Kunderová, "V Americe je možné všechno. Film Hillbilly hodil vidle do soudnosti a počítá s Oscary", 2020, https://wave.rozhlas.cz/v-americe-je-mozne-vsechno-film-hillbilly-elegy-hodil-vidle-do-soudnosti-a- 8371520. 10 through the dynamics of the family and how the family responded to society-wide transformation, built a very loving, admiring, but also very unadorned view of the elites. It was a captivating spectacle that made The Crown be one of the top series of the year 2019.20 Critics also appreciated Peter Morgan, the creator of the series. He is considered as the main star of the series, the man, who came up with that project for Netflix and wrote nearly all the scripts for it by himself. He already knew every detail about the environment of the British monarch from his screenplays for the movie The Queen, or from his theatre play The Audience, in which the Queen has all her premieres for an audience from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. Owing to his admirable knowledge of the monarchy, he was not afraid to relativize the public image and the personality of the Queen herself. It can be seen for example in the episode, where the Queen with her childhood friend Lord Porchester travelled abroad due to horse breeding. Morgan used this situation to open up the Queen's private crisis with being predestined to rule and at the same time to illustrate her hidden romantic feelings to an old friend. In the episode dedicated to landslide and subsequent disaster in Aberfan, we saw the Queen shed tears for the first time ever, and thus the creator so ostentatiously broke down the deep-rooted image of an emotionally measured and always rational ruler. Although Morgan drew on historically verifiable facts and interviews for his screenplays, more than a detailed reconstruction of historical situations, he is interested in events behind closed doors, while writing, he showed an unprecedented dose of the invention. At the same time, in the Brexit moods, when the monarchy again appeared to be something anachronistic, Morgan's work served as a suitable commentary underlining the relevance of the royal family in the time and its irreplaceable function in the of the United Kingdom.21 Reviewers discussed characteristic features and strong and weak episodes of the series. Each of the four seasons was characterized by a certain inconsistency. The central character was always Queen Elizabeth II, and other storylines converged on her, which were the fates of her family members and the fate of the country. The “big history” came to the Queen in the form of prime ministers and statesmen, but sometimes a “small

20 Šárka Gmiterková, and Pavel Sladký. "Elity, vrazi, skutečné události. Nejlepší seriály roku 2019", 2020, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/elity-vrazi-skutecne-udalosti-nejlepsi-serialy-roku-2019-8132888. 21 Jan Bodnár, "Seriál Koruna je zpět. Británie se mění, královniny povinnosti zůstávají", 2019, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/serial-koruna-je-zpet-britanie-se-meni-kralovniny-povinnosti-zustavaji-8118702.

11 history” also broke in. Such an event was in the fourth season, the invasion of , a working-class man who had indeed twice invaded the Queen's bedroom and spoken to her, and who had been hit by cruel economic and social reforms of Thatcherism, and here the well-known and less-known historical stories met. This episode, called Fagan, is one of the highlights of the fourth season, as it focused on one of the main thematic lines of the series, namely the Queen's detachment from the real world, but also her status as a heartless mother. Paradoxically, the state visit to in the episode Terra Nullius was one of the best, despite its naivety. The interaction between Charles and Diana, disturbed all the time by the character of Camilla, did not work on the surface of the whole series, but was repetitive and superficial, and the frightening motif of Diana's eating disorder seemed artificial. Love dilemmas set in the environment of a luxurious and aristocratic society thus remained an area in which The Crown felt conventionally and faintly. The fortunate feature of the series was that it can balance not so good episode with a strong episode, for example in The Hereditary Principle, Princess Margaret revealed an unknown and cruel chapter from the lineage, where the approach to the purity of is notoriously reminding of the ideology, fought by the British monarchy. The Crown showed us both glimpses of fairy tales and sympathy for traditions, as well as plenty of dark and unpleasant situations.22 Many of us who watch the series can ask the question of whether The Crown is reality or fiction. Several reviews deal with this question and its answer. The series did not want to reconstruct the events we had experienced or those which could be seen elsewhere. For example, the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles was something we have access to on many media channels, and so the series shows us rather the background of things and does not claim that what is shown is always true. However, it is a fairly plausible interpretation. Furthermore, the series is a precise mix of well- known events and fiction at the same time and gave us what it did best - it maintained its excellent standard.23

22 Vít Schmarc, "KRÁLOVSKÁ POHÁDKA I ARISTOKRATICKÝ HOROR. KORUNA NADÁLE VLÁDNE TELEVIZNÍMU MAINSTREAMU", 2020, https://art.ceskatelevize.cz/inside/kralovska- pohadka-i-aristokraticky-horor-koruna-nadale-vladne-televiznimu-mainstreamu-sA4w6. 23 Aleš Stuchlý, Vít Schmarc, Antonín Tesař, Šárka Gmiterková, and Tereza Kunderová, "V Americe je možné všechno. Film Hillbilly Elegy hodil vidle do soudnosti a počítá s Oscary", 2020, https://wave.rozhlas.cz/v-americe-je-mozne-vsechno-film-hillbilly-elegy-hodil-vidle-do-soudnosti-a- 8371520. 12

In the reviews it was that some of the stories from the history of the British monarchy belong to the official version of history, others complete or even disprove history. Morgan's work is unique in how he can balance between history and fiction, as well as his attitude toward them. We cannot accuse The Crown of admiring the monarchy, but at the same time, we cannot call it a disillusioning portrait. This is also the case with fictional characters appearing in the stories. The creators make sure that the well-known politicians and public figures in the series do not sound one-dimensional, full of admiration, or, on the contrary, disgraceful.24 Some people and historians say that a lot of things in the series are not true, and they are afraid that the series will be watched by teenagers who could mistakenly believe that the stories are facts from the history of Great Britain. By contrast, there was an opinion that teenagers are not the category of people who would watch this series.25 The perception of the monarchy in Britain was changed owing to television, and recently social media. The monarchy seemed remote in the past times and now it is a public service monarchy with feelings of community that as a result led to a reduction of royal family members’ privacy.26 The Crown series was praised for showing the beginning of opened dialogues with the public by means of the mass media. The royal family unwillingly, under the pressure of social transformation, had to let the press to their homes and had to learn to live with the fact they are public figures. In this aspect is the series very valuable.27 On Český rozhlas in the podcast Reflexe: Film!, The Crown was evaluated as one of the best three series of 2019 because it is a brilliantly written piece of work with wonderfully constructed characters thanks to Peter Morgen's lifelong care for the British royal family and specifically Queen Elizabeth II.28 It was pointed out that the series was created for Netflix and the budget was around £100 million per season, which is a huge

24 Vít Schmarc, "KRÁLOVSKÁ POHÁDKA I ARISTOKRATICKÝ HOROR. KORUNA NADÁLE VLÁDNE TELEVIZNÍMU MAINSTREAMU", 2020, https://art.ceskatelevize.cz/inside/kralovska- pohadka-i-aristokraticky-horor-koruna-nadale-vladne-televiznimu-mainstreamu-sA4w6. 25 Hana Trojánková Biriczová, and Šimon Holý, "The Crown: Vyznávejte svým dětem lásku, ať nedopadnou jako princ Charles", 2020, https://wave.rozhlas.cz/crown-vyznavejte-svym-detem-lasku- nedopadnou-jako-princ-charles-8368934. 26 Karen Dolby, Queen Elizabeth II‘s Guide to Life (London: Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2012), 81- 82. 27 Pavel Sladký, Šárka Gmiterková, and Jarmila Křenková, "Nejlepší filmy a seriály a kde na ně koukat online", 2020, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/nejlepsi-filmy-a-serialy-a-kde-na-ne-koukat-online-8164577. 28 Šárka Gmiterková, and Pavel Sladký. "Elity, vrazi, skutečné události. Nejlepší seriály roku 2019", 2020, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/elity-vrazi-skutecne-udalosti-nejlepsi-serialy-roku-2019-8132888.

13 amount of money. However, Netflix managed to do an interesting thing. It included a series in its library that attracted a group of viewers who were not typical, namely women over the age of 35, which increased the number of subscriptions in Great Britain and across Europe. The fact that the first season was incredibly successful on the Golden Globes certainly contributed to this. It is assumed that they will continue to be successful, because, for showrunner Peter Morgan, Queen Elizabeth and the royal family are a personal topic he deals with for a very long time and in-depth. Peter Morgan writes the whole series with just a team of researchers, which is unusual given how extensive the work is and how many characters are in the series.29 Positively was also reviewed that every season always had a character that amazed us. For example, in the fourth season, it was Margaret Thatcher. Getting into this character's sex appeal, maintaining dignity, but also her monstrosity was a trademark of a great actress.30

2.2 British reviews

Reviews from British quality media were taken from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and broadsheets The Telegraph and The Guardian. The Telegraph presents itself on the website as a multimedia news brand with credibility, authority, and quality. The Guardian, which was founded in 1821, considers itself as an honest and fearless journalist that is free from political and commercial intervention. The reviews were also as the Czech ones sorted out into the same seven evaluated topics. To begin with, the depiction of the royal family and acting performances in The Crown series was a topic of discussion. An actress Claire Foy was magnificent in her role. She depicted Elizabeth as someone who was not ready at the start of season one, for the job she was about to do. She knew more about horses than politics. She tried to reconcile problems of duty, the royal family, and her relationship with her husband with character and intelligence.31

29 Šárka Gmiterková and Pavel Sladký, "Nejlepší české filmy a TV seriály roku 2017", 2017, https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/nejlepsi-ceske-filmy-a-tv-serialy-roku-2017-6597110. 30 Aleš Stuchlý, Vít Schmarc, Antonín Tesař, Šárka Gmiterková, and Tereza Kunderová, "V Americe je možné všechno. Film Hillbilly Elegy hodil vidle do soudnosti a počítá s Oscary", 2020, https://wave.rozhlas.cz/v-americe-je-mozne-vsechno-film-hillbilly-elegy-hodil-vidle-do-soudnosti-a- 8371520. 31 Mick Brown, "The Crown: Claire Foy and Matt Smith on the making of the £100m Netflix series", 2016, http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/10/15/the-crown-claire-foy-and-matt-smith-on-the- making-of-the-100m-ne/.

14

Some critics considered The Crown series as a must-watch TV programme and commented favourably the fourth season that according to them, regained its quality. The previous season was weaker mainly because of the material they were working with and the period the series takes place. The cast and the historical period of the fourth season were worth it. Positive reactions received the actress in the role of former British prime minister: “Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher is the best impersonation I’ve seen of Thatcher in any comedy or drama. Her quirks, her mannerism are just spot on, so good, in fact, you stop thinking about her impersonation after a short while and you just get stuck into her character instead.” Creators found a balance in the way they depicted her. This depiction stayed close to its origin. The character of Thatcher is an as controversial figure in the series as in her times, for some viewers likeable and some not. It very quickly displayed the difference between two significant women – Margaret Thatcher and the Queen: “Thatcher described herself as plain, straight forward, provincial, a shop keeper’s daughter, and that didn’t sit comfortably next to the frivolous absurdities and blood sports of the upper classes.” In the second episode, there was an exceptional scene. Margaret Thatcher and her husband were visiting Balmoral Castle and the whole situation felt embarrassing and awkward because they did not know how to behave and what to dress for dinner. It was for the first time when we could have empathy for Margaret Thatcher while watching her in a society of fancy people. It was humanizing and effective scene and at the same time, a lot of it came from Gillian Anderson. She is one of the actors who were underused in the 1990s because of her attractiveness, however, she was iconic in the series The -Files, and now it is pleasant to see her everywhere from the moment of the fourth season of The Crown series.32 British reviewers also praised the introduction of two new characters, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, that elevated the show for the better. The fourth season was just as soapy and magnificent as the previous ones. However, first feelings were not positive because the series seemed to be sentimental and sometimes poorly written, which overexplained too much of a story. Fortunately, it was usually saved by brilliant acting. Princess Diana was perfectly performed by Emma Corrin, a young actress straight from drama school. The role she played was difficult and she managed to pull it off just fine. Gillian Anderson in the role of Margaret Thatcher and her representation of the Iron Lady

32 Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell, "The Crown: What the Must Watch reviewers think", 2020, https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/entries/d0107c9e-4e62-4227-b9be-9a69ea8124b0. 15 was well played, her voice and body language were unique. Especially meetings with the Queen were supreme. Another great duo was Tobias Menzies and Josh O’Connor. In the first episode of this season, there was a scene where Prince Charles had a father-to-son talk and it was an acting masterpiece. The Crown has some beautiful locations and with its enormous budget, it is a perfect place for actors to do their best. It is a great series to watch, considered.33 The Crown also received a negative review for portraying the characters and for the opening of the fourth season that felt like “a very bad remake of Spitting Image”. The actors were making awful impersonations of the royal family. Princess Anne, played by , looked like a little girl with a forced smile. Furthermore, the actress Olivia Colman, in the role of Elizabeth II, and her toothy smile, from which she her monarchical authority, was a let-down. On the contrary, there was a flashback in one episode to 1947 where a younger version of the Queen, visiting South Africa to record a message to the Commonwealth, was portrayed by award-winning Claire Foy, and it was visible in the scene that Olivia Colman could not match her predecessor. Although Colman's acting was alright when it came to showing how the Queen went about everyday work. She lacked certain dramatic tension concerning her approach to Michael Fagan, who invaded Buckingham Palace, or an audience with Margaret Thatcher. She improved her impression when dealing with her sons. Another performance of the actress that got a negative reaction was Gillian Anderson in the role of Margaret Thatcher. Her acting was nearly unwatchable, her head movement looked like a turtle looking for the next meal. Emma Corrin and her role as a Lady Diana Spencer was the first actress in this review that was praised for getting everything right. From the first moment, she appeared on the scene as a schoolgirl flirting with Prince Charles to the end where she played ten years older wife love from his husband and suffering from bulimia. It was summarized with words: “It is never gripping but it is always entertaining: a much-needed dollop of well-made, well-written, slowly-paced telly.”34 Some British critics mentioned the depiction of relationships in the royal family and historical context in The Crown series. They considered the series at its best when it

33 Rebecca Nicholson, "The Crown season four, first look review – enter Diana, Thatcher, bombast and bomb blasts", 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/10/the-crown-season-4-first- look-review. 34 Will Gompertz, "The Crown: Will Gompertz reviews season four of the Netflix show ★★★★☆", 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54799488. 16 looked outside of the royal family at the relationship between the Queen and the Prime Minister, and not only dealing with what was happening with all those various love affairs. The Crown was fascinating when it talked about the political and economic situation throughout the history of the United Kingdom, which did many times in the series. The series was interesting in a way that it covered part of history before we remembered or started noticing anything about the royal family, before the death of Princess Diana. We watched a young princess joining the royal family. She was twenty years old when she married Prince Charles, and it was stronger watching it now, knowing what will follow.35 The reviewers also commented on changing the cast in the series. It could be risky to replace the cast, but this change was successful. The viewers had to adjust to new actors in the series. Claire Foy as the young Queen, an unknown actress before The Crown, was replaced by Olivia Colman who is on the contrary a well-known, Oscar-winning star. And therefore, it kind of felt like watching Colman and not Elizabeth II on the TV. Nevertheless, her acting shined at the end of the first episode when she found out about her trusted Sir , a man who was a KGB spy. From the middle of the third season, the topic changed to the Prince of Wales who was shown positively. The sympathy to this character was raised as the sympathy towards the Queen was disappearing because of her behaviour towards her children.36 In British media, we can find information about screenwriter Peter Morgan and his dramatization of the series. Critics appreciated that Peter Morgen brilliantly used the device, a letter, to set up the main theme of the series, and of the long reign of Elizabeth II that has lasted for more than sixty years. His invention, in the form of a letter, Elizabeth got after the death of her father from her grandmother Queen Mary. It was saying: “Dearest Lilibeth, I know how you loved your papa, my son. And I know you will be as devastated as I am by this loss. But you must put those sentiments to one side now, for duty calls. (…) You must not allow yourself to make similar mistakes. And while you mourn your father, you must also mourn someone else. Elizabeth Mountbatten. For she has now been replaced by another person, Elizabeth Regina. The two Elizabeths will

35 Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell, "The Crown: What the Must Watch reviewers think", 2020, https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/entries/d0107c9e-4e62-4227-b9be-9a69ea8124b0. 36 Anita Singh, "The Crown, season 3 Netflix review: TV's best soap opera is back and this time it's Prince Charles we feel sorry for", 2019, https:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/crown-season-3- netflix-review-tvs-best-soap-opera/. 17 frequently be in conflict with one another. The fact is, the Crown must win. Must always win.”37 In my opinion, Peter Morgan also perfectly expressed the beginning of the preparation of Elizabeth II for the role of the queen that brought many responsibilities with it and the awareness that the duty must win over personal preferences. The first ten episodes, which covered the Queen’s marriage and the resignation of Winston Churchill as prime minister, were the most lavish TV dramatization of the royal family ever made and assumed the people interested in the monarchy, political and family intrigue and drama would appreciate it. This mixture of historical facts and fiction enlarged our comprehension of the monarchy, the Queen and her role, and how extraordinary it was that an unready young woman inherited the crown, ruled the country with such determination for almost seventy years. What is more, none of the dramatists had ever dedicated so much time to work about one person, the Queen, as Peter Morgan. We could expect that he must be fascinated by the character of Queen Elizabeth II, but he denied it: “Let’s be clear about this. I really don’t. I have no interest in the royal family whatsoever, but for some reason, I seem to be able to write this woman, and I don’t know why that is.”38 Looking into the reviews of the episodes in the series, there was a negative comment about one called Aberfan. It was told to be an almost unwatchable episode because of the depiction of national tragedy that focuses mainly on the Queen and her feelings about the situation rather than tragedy itself: “It feels wrong to take a national tragedy which claimed the lives of 144 people, 116 of them children – and make it all about the Queen.” On the other hand, it was the only failure in the third season. “The Crown remains, by far, the best soap opera on television.”39 The series follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II, and so I did not find surprising or dishonest that the episode Aberfan concentrated on the Queen’s attitude towards the tragedy. At the same time, it certainly did spread the knowledge and compassionate feelings about the tragedy. British historian and bibliographer Robert Lacey mentioned in his book concerning the life of the Queen what Peter Morgan covers in the episode – the Queen’s feelings about the tragedy. We

37 Peter Morgan, "The Crown". Netflix Official Site, 2016, https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678. 38 Mick Brown, "The Crown: Claire Foy and Matt Smith on the making of the £100m Netflix series", 2016, http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/10/15/the-crown-claire-foy-and-matt-smith-on-the- making-of-the-100m-ne/. 39 Anita Singh, "The Crown, season 3 Netflix review: TV's best soap opera is back and this time it's Prince Charles we feel sorry for", 2019, https:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/crown-season-3- netflix-review-tvs-best-soap-opera/. 18 can read that the Queen said to her advisors that her presence in a former coal mining village in South Wales would disturb the rescue work. On the contrary, she found it hard to express softness or extend personal comfort, and it was more difficult for her in public: “she actually felt unqualified for the heavy responsibility of ministering to people’s sorrow.”.40 Robert Lacey is also known as a historical consultant for The Crown series. The accuracy depicted in the series is a popular topic in British media. On BBC news, we can read an article about the conflict concerning the depiction of fact and fiction in the series. The Crown had been accused of misrepresenting facts and profiting from the royal family's suffering. The criticism came from former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter. He did not find pleasant, how the creators of the series were stretching their dramatic license to the extreme. He expressly told the BBC “It's a hatchet job on Prince Charles and a bit of a hatchet job on Diana, you have to ask, is it necessary?” The main creator and writer - Peter Morgan defended his work with reasoning, that he had to have some creative wiggle room because he did not write a documentary. One of the problems was with the scene in the opening episode of the fourth season, where there was an interaction between Prince Charles and his great uncle Lord Mountbatten. In this scene, Mountbatten wrote a letter to Charles, warning him about the dangers of pursuing the married Camilla Parker Bowles and what it could mean for the rest of the family. After the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979, Charles read the letter. The issue was that there was no official record of this letter ever existing. Despite it all, Peter Morgan claimed it was based on the truth and the show's official podcast said: “I think everything that's in that letter that Mountbatten writes to Charles is what I really believe, based on everything I've read and people I've spoken to, that represents his view. We will never know if it was put into a letter, and we will never know if Charles got that letter before or after Mountbatten's death, but in this particular drama, this is how I decided to deal with it.” In another scene, Charles's private secretary asked Diana, if she was psychically good enough to go alone on a trip to New . Dickie Arbiter in his tweet claimed: “That never happened, I was there. John Riddell, Charles's private secretary at the time, would never have said that.” And he added that ordinary people would see it as a reality and believed that. More complaints then followed. The actor Josh O'Connor

40 Robert Lacey, The Queen: A Life in Brief (New York: Harper Perennial, 2012), 64-65. 19 poorly portrayed Charles and how Princess Diana was shown not just once with a head in the toilet because of her bulimia. To this topic was also written in The Telegraph what Peter Morgan said about the portrayal of the Queen in the series. According to him, the Queen’s depiction comes from the personality she really is and her role. She was depicted as: “a shy, introvert, countrywoman, relatively unimaginative… non-choleric”. Further, we can read that Peter Morgan said that the Queen will be remembered as a ceremonial figure in history, although she is a regular person like any of us. As a result, many situations and dilemmas seem to be to common people or viewers of The Crown series. It is only the anthropology, protocol, and language that are different. As for any historical dramatization, the series and its creators try not to get too far from reality even though it is fiction. Peter Morgan has a team of researchers that work for him to make the show more accurate: “They’re almost like my compliance people; they’ll say, ‘That didn’t happen,’ or, ‘That’s absolutely ridiculous.’ I want to protect my ability to write things as I would love them to have been, and then I get crushed by how they actually were. And then, of course, it gets submitted to lawyers who make sure we don’t end up in the Tower.” Morgan reminds us that this is not about the real Queen. The Queen we see in the show is Morgan's Queen, the way he wrote her: “It’s as if I was painting a portrait – I can’t take my hand out of it; whereas if absolute accuracy was all you were after you would take a photograph with flat light. But that’s not what we’re doing here. You try to get yourself into her head and respond to the challenges she faces. There are times when I would really like her to respond in a certain way, but after a while you sort of know, ‘She would never have said that.’ But what do I know? I’ve never met the woman.” Morgan’s skills as a screenwriter are so impressive that a lot of viewers believed or imagined that his personification of the Queen and other politicians represents reality.41 Finally, The Crown was praised for the beginning of the story and Claire Foy received a positive evaluation for her performance as Elizabeth II. Overall, every character of the royal family was portrayed likeably. The scene with the king who accepted a crown made of paper from carol singers before he had informed his family that he was dying was moving. Netflix had a certain advantage over the BBC, not to mention money, it did not have to deal with a senior executive, which gave Peter Morgan

41 Emma Saunders, "The Crown: Ex-royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter criticises 'hatchet Job'", 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54974674. 20 and his creative team more freedom in their work. As mentioned before, The Crown is a very expensive series. Nevertheless, it proved its worth and from the first season, it is a great achievement.42

2.3 Comparison

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, an institution that dates back more than a thousand years, and a parliamentary democracy. The Queen and her family play a ceremonial role. For a lot of citizens, they are a symbol of their country’s cultural identity.43 The British monarchy has many fans but not everyone supports this form of government. For example, the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 showed the interest and support of people for the British monarchy. “A poll taken at the time found that 70 percent of Britons supported keeping monarchy.”44 I consider the interest of people in The Crown series and the success with the viewers as something that also underlines the achievement of the British monarchy. The Crown was evaluated in various ways in Czech and British quality media, mostly positive, in the chosen topics. Czech and British critics mostly reviewed the portrayal of characters and acting performances positively. Both representatives of the Queen received great reviews from Czech media. An Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman was especially praised for the depiction of a complex character of the Queen that became a ruler overseeing the proper country’s functioning. In The Crown were moments that made the series effective, for example, the closing dialogue between the Queen and her sister Margaret in the last episode of season three. The main highlight of it was that even their personality and role in their lives differ, a bond between them was strong. Furthermore, positive reactions received two iconic heroines, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, who entered the story in the fourth season. Margaret Thatcher got a new human dimension that was likeable for reviewers and became a fascinating figure in the way she expressed herself. Princess Diana, a highly expected character in the series, was also greatly awarded. The young actress Emma Corrin, who played her, became as well as Princess Diana famous.

42 Lucy Mangan, "The Crown review – the £100m gamble on the Queen pays off royally", 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/nov/04/the-crown-review-netflix-100m-gamble-on-the- queen-pays-off-royally. 43 LeeAnne Gelletly, Monarchy (New York: Smartbook Media, 2019), 8–14. 44 LeeAnne Gelletly, Monarchy (New York: Smartbook Media, 2019), 51.

21

The success of The Crown also lies in strong supporting characters so far in every season of the series. Czech critics disagreed on whether it is easy for the audience to identify with the characters or not because the royals are people dealing with different problems and are coming from different backgrounds. A negative response got the depiction of Diana’s relationship with Prince Charles that gave the impression of a superficial and cheesy style of performance. British media also appreciated young Actress Claire Foy who played in the first two seasons. Gillian Anderson was proclaimed as the best impersonation of Margaret Thatcher because the creators found a good balance in the portrayal of her character for fans as well as for opponents of her figure. British reviews corresponded with Czech that the humanizing aspect of the character of Margaret Thatcher was pleasant. They also agreed that two iconic women, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, were an achievement for the series. Emma Corrin’s acting was simply perfect, same for Gillian Anderson who well-played Margaret Thatcher. An interaction between Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher, same for a great duo Tobias Menzies and Josh O’Connor in a father- to-son scene achieved another success. By contrast, we could also find a few negative comments about the bad impersonation of royal family members. The depiction of relationships between members of the royal family was the second topic to be compared. Czech reviewers appreciated the fact that the series concentrated on the complicated relationships showing that to be in the role of the monarch is not an easy job to do. However, critics from Great Britain enjoyed when it looked outside of royals’ lives and focused on the economic and political situation in the country. According to Czech reviews, the recast of the series was very successful. It perfectly captured the advanced age of Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, except for little inaccuracy in the appearance and behaviour. On the British media, they had a very similar view that the recast was a success, although it required getting used to it. Czech and British media had both admirations for Peter Morgan and his dramatization. Czech reviews valued his knowledge of the royal family and the fact that he was not afraid to portray the Queen’s personality and the public image. They 22 considered him as the main star because he wrote the series almost all by himself. His dose of the invention perfectly underlined the relevance of the royal family. British media also accepted favourably Peter Morgan’s inventions in The Crown and saw the series as a good thing that brought a better understanding of the monarchy and the role of the Queen in Britain. They considered the series as the best TV dramatization of the royal family also because of Peter Morgan’s dedication to writing about the life of the Queen. According to reviewers, the individual seasons of the series well balanced showing famous and less known events from history. Czech media appreciated the episode Fagan, where the well-known and less-known historical stories met, and Hereditary Principle where we could learn about less known chapters from the history of the British royal family. Furthermore, it was evaluated that series offered us both, sympathy for traditions as well as dark and unpleasant situations. In contrast, the British media did not find likeable episode Aberfan showing the great national tragedy in Great Britain because it concentrated mainly on the Queen rather than on tragedy itself. A different point of view was on the depiction of fact and fiction in Czech and British media. The first group liked a mixture of depicted stories from modified reality and historical facts and consider it as a valuable interpretation that did not claim to be always true. Czech reviewers were not afraid that it would have a bad influence on young viewers who could consider it all as reality. On the other hand, the British media dealt with the inaccurate depiction of public figures who were illustrated in a worse and incorrect way than it really was in the past. The last topic covered an interesting positive evaluation of the series. The Czech media pointed out that the series is valuable in the way that it depicted how the royal family led the press to their private lives. Further, Netflix managed to attract a new age group of viewers, women over 35 years old, and it raised subscribers in the world and proved that The Crown is popular. British media noticed that Netflix got an upper hand over BBC because Netflix has now classic British series that was usual to be broadcasted on British broadcasting companies. 23

Conclusion

The thesis compared the perception of The Crown series, which deals with the life of the Queen and the political situation in her time, from most common Czech and British quality media. The Czech reviews were taken from Český rozhlas (Czech Radio) and ČT art (Czech Television, Channel Art). In Great Britain, it was from BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), The Telegraph, and The Guardian. The methods used in this thesis were analysis and comparison. The analytical part is divided into two parts. The first part successfully sorted out the Czech and British reviews into evaluated topics, namely portrayal of the royals and acting performances, depiction of relationships between characters, the recast, Peter Morgan and his dramatization, episodes, the problem of fact and fiction of the TV series and appreciation. The second part compared the sorted topics one by one how Czech and British media evaluate them. The thesis presented different evaluations of the perception of The Crown series from most common Czech and British quality media, and it was discovered that the positive reviews dominate over the negative ones in both countries. The series is generally very successful that also underlines the relevance of the British royal family. Contemplating how the comparison part ended up, I found out that both Czech and British critics highlight the depiction of characters and acting performances and admired the main creator for his work. Czech reviews evaluated the depiction of complicated relationships between members of the royal family whereas the British enjoyed the depiction of the economic and political situation in the country. Overall, the connection and the depiction of well-known and less-known historical stories mostly got positive reactions. British media deal with historical inaccuracy and did not like that some figures or stories were not depicted in the right way. In contrast, Czech critics consider the series as a valuable interpretation with its mixture of stories from modified reality and historical facts. Considering the countless number of reviews about The Crown series, I would recommend looking into media from all around the world. For example, an American media, as Netflix is an American subscription service and many viewers from the USA watch it, could offer interesting points of view on the series and its depiction of British royal family and historical stories. 24

Bibliography

Primary sources

Morgan, Peter. "The Crown". Netflix Official Site. 2016. https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678.

Websites

"Crown, The". https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/crown.

"Netflix plans original UK drama about the Queen". 2014. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27539739.

"The Crown". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/awards.

"The Queen". 2006. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436697/.

Biriczová, Hana Trojánková, and Šimon Holý. "The Crown: Vyznávejte svým dětem lásku, ať nedopadnou jako princ Charles". 2020. https://wave.rozhlas.cz/crown- vyznavejte-svym-detem-lasku-nedopadnou-jako-princ-charles-8368934.

Bodnár, Jan. "Seriál Koruna je zpět. Británie se mění, královniny povinnosti zůstávají". 2019. https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/serial-koruna-je-zpet-britanie-se-meni-kralovniny- povinnosti-zustavaji-8118702.

Brown, Mick. "The Crown: Claire Foy and Matt Smith on the making of the £100m Netflix series". 2016. http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/10/15/the-crown- claire-foy-and-matt-smith-on-the-making-of-the-100m-ne/. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20161104210335/http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on- demand/2016/10/15/the-crown-claire-foy-and-matt-smith-on-the-making-of-the-100m- ne/.

Bryan, Scott, and Hayley Campbell. "The Crown: What the Must Watch reviewers think". 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/entries/d0107c9e-4e62-4227-b9be- 9a69ea8124b0.

Gmiterková, Šárka, and Pavel Sladký. "Elity, vrazi, skutečné události. Nejlepší seriály roku 2019". 2020. https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/elity-vrazi-skutecne-udalosti-nejlepsi- serialy-roku-2019-8132888.

Gmiterková, Šárka, and Pavel Sladký. "Nejlepší české filmy a TV seriály roku 2017". 2017. https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/nejlepsi-ceske-filmy-a-tv-serialy-roku-2017-6597110. 25

Gompertz, Will. "The Crown: Will Gompertz reviews season four of the Netflix show ★★★★☆". 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54799488.

Harvey, Giles. "How the Man Behind 'The Crown' Made the Monarchy Relevant Again". 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/magazine/the-crown-peter- morgan.html?smid=fb- nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0F5GWcmJRNz0GCmI2nyuzYxnqPSCDn2XAlN8 6LvolFr7UbY478fpqymnc.

Stuchlý, Aleš, Vít Schmarc, Antonín Tesař, Šárka Gmiterková, and Tereza Kunderová. "V Americe je možné všechno. Film Hillbilly Elegy hodil vidle do soudnosti a počítá s Oscary". 2020. https://wave.rozhlas.cz/v-americe-je-mozne-vsechno-film-hillbilly- elegy-hodil-vidle-do-soudnosti-a-8371520.

Mangan, Lucy. "The Crown review – the £100m gamble on the Queen pays off royally". 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/nov/04/the-crown- review-netflix-100m-gamble-on-the-queen-pays-off-royally.

Martinson, Jane. "Netflix's glittering Crown could leave BBC looking a little dull". 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/31/netflix-glittering-crown-bbc- dull-launch-tv.

Moir, Sophia. "The Crown season 5: What will happen? Who are the new actors taking over the roles? All you need to know about Netflix's royal drama". 2021. https://www.bt.com/tv/drama/the-crown-season-5-netflix-cast-characters-release-start- date-time-period-true-story-history-plot-storyline-filming-locations.

Nicholson, Rebecca. "The Crown season four, first look review – enter Diana, Thatcher, bombast and bomb blasts". 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and- radio/2020/nov/10/the-crown-season-4-first-look-review.

Saunders, Emma. "The Crown: Ex-royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter criticises 'hatchet Job'". 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54974674.

Schmarc, Vít. "KRÁLOVSKÁ POHÁDKA I ARISTOKRATICKÝ HOROR. KORUNA NADÁLE VLÁDNE TELEVIZNÍMU MAINSTREAMU". 2020. https://art.ceskatelevize.cz/inside/kralovska-pohadka-i-aristokraticky-horor-koruna- nadale-vladne-televiznimu-mainstreamu-sA4w6.

Singh, Anita. "The Crown, season 3 Netflix review: TV's best soap opera is back and this time it's Prince Charles we feel sorry for". 2019. https:/www.telegraph.co.uk/on- demand/0/crown-season-3-netflix-review-tvs-best-soap-opera/. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20200528151402/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on- demand/0/crown-season-3-netflix-review-tvs-best-soap-opera/. 26

Sladký, Pavel, Šárka Gmiterková, and Jarmila Křenková. "Nejlepší filmy a seriály a kde na ně koukat online". 2020. https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/nejlepsi-filmy-a-serialy-a-kde-na- ne-koukat-online-8164577.

Interviews

Morgan, Peter. "Peter Morgan Master Class | MFF Praha - Febiofest". Interview. YouTube. April 11, 2016. https://youtu.be/S3d4XwgAOr0.

Monographies

Arbiter, Dickie, Victoria Arbiter, Stephen Bates, Francis Beckett, Hugh Costello, H. Mark Glancy, Sarah Gristwood, Ashley Jackson, Andrzej Olechnowicz, Ted Powell, Dominic Sandbrook, Kate Williams, Vojtěch Klíma, Kamil Rodan, František Stellner, Ludvík Pouzar, and Jiří Chodil. Královna Alžběta II. Brno: Extra Publishing, 2020.

Dolby, Karen. Queen Elizabeth II‘s Guide to Life. London: Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2012.

Dolby, Karen. The Wicked Witt of the Royal Family. London: Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2019.

Gelletly, LeeAnne. Monarchy. New York: Smartbook Media, 2019.

Lacey, Robert. The Queen: A Life in Brief. New York: Harper Perennial, 2012. Appendix

The table of 89 awards The Crown series received.

Best Television Series - Drama

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama Golden Globes, USA 2021 Emma Corrin

Winner Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Supporting Role Golden Globe Gillian Anderson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama Josh O'Connor

Golden Globes, USA 2020 Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama Winner Olivia Colman Golden Globe

Golden Globes, USA 2017 Best Television Series - Drama

Winner Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama Golden Globe Claire Foy

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) Martin Childs (production designer) Mark Raggett (art director) Alison Harvey (set decorator) Primetime Emmy Awards 2020 For The Crown: Aberfan (2019)

Winner Primetime Emmy Outstanding Period Costumes Amy Roberts (costume designer) Sidonie Roberts (assistant costume designer) Sarah Moore (costume supervisor) For The Crown: Cri de Coeur (2019)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Claire Foy For playing "Queen Elizabeth II".

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Stephen Daldry For The Crown: Paterfamilias (2017)

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Nina Gold (casting director) Robert Sterne (casting director) Primetime Emmy Awards 2018 Netflix

Winner Primetime Emmy Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) Adriano Goldman (director of photography) Netflix For The Crown: Beryl (2017)

Outstanding Period Costumes Jane Petrie (costume designer) Newby (assistant costume designer) Barbara Kuznar (assistant costume designer) Gabrielle Spanswick (costume supervisor) Netflix For The Crown: Dear Mrs. Kennedy (2017)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series John Lithgow For playing: "Winston Churchill".

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period Program (One Hour or More) Martin Childs (production designer) Mark Raggett (art director) Primetime Emmy Awards 2017 Celia Bobak (set decorator) Netflix Winner For The Crown: Smoke and Mirrors (2016) Primetime Emmy Outstanding Period/Fantasy Costumes for a Series, Limited Series, or Movie Michele Clapton (costume designer) Alex Fordham (assistant costume designer) Emma O'Loughlin (assistant costume designer) Kate O'Farrell (costume supervisor) Netflix For The Crown: Wolferton Splash (2016)

Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Awards 2018 Vanessa Kirby

Left Bank Pictures Winner Netflix BAFTA TV Award

Best Costume Design Michele Clapton BAFTA Awards 2017 Netflix

Winner Best Special, Visual and Graphic Effects BAFTA TV Award One Of Us Molinare Netflix

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Gillian Anderson Helena Bonham Carter Olivia Colman Screen Actors Guild Awards 2021 Emma Corrin Erin Doherty Winner Charles Edwards Actor Tobias Menzies Josh O'Connor

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Gillian Anderson

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Marion Bailey Helena Bonham Carter Olivia Colman Screen Actors Guild Awards 2020 Erin Doherty

Ben Daniels Winner Charles Edwards Actor Tobias Menzies Josh O'Connor Sam Phillips

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2018 Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Winner Claire Foy Actor

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Awards 2017 Claire Foy

Winner Actor Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series John Lithgow

AFI Awards, USA 2021

TV Program of the Year Winner AFI Award

TV Program of the Year

THE CROWN continues to sparkle with brilliance in its third year. Now, even more, AFI Awards, USA 2020 the power of Peter Morgan's sumptuous series echoes beyond the singular Queen, inviting audiences to consider how the humanity of the Royal Family is stifled by Winner tradition - an unsentimental approach brought into sharp relief through engaging AFI Award historical detail and the regal performances of Olivia Colman and her noble entourage.

TV Program of the Year

THE CROWN invites audiences into the private chamber of one of the world's most AFI Awards, USA 2018 public figures. It's there we kneel to the majestic performance of Claire Foy, whose Queen Elizabeth is both powerful and personable. This second year of Peter Winner Morgan's sumptuous series deepens the drama of England's transition to modern AFI Award times - memorably catalyzed by a clash with an America claiming Camelot as its own.

TV Program of the Year

AFI Awards, USA 2017 THE CROWN sparkles with epic ambition and emotional nuance. Peter Morgan's pristine production crowns this mannered majesty in a tale of divine right - Winner particularly through Claire Foy's poised performance as Elizabeth, and John AFI Award Lithgow's portrayal of Winston Churchill as an aging lion clinging to power with a shrewd devotion to the young monarch.

American Society of Cinematographers, Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Episode of a Series for Non- USA 2019 Commercial Television

Adriano Goldman Winner Episode: "The Crown: Beryl (2017)" ASC Award

American Society of Cinematographers, Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Episode of a Series for Non- USA 2018 Commercial Television

Adriano Goldman Winner Episode: "The Crown: Smoke and Mirrors (2016)" ASC Award

Photography & Lighting: Fiction Adriano Goldman For episode "The Crown: Beryl (2017)".

Bafta TV Craft 2018 Sound: Fiction

Winner BAFTA Television Craft Award Sound: Fiction Lee Walpole (supervising sound editor) Stuart Hilliker (re-recording mixer) Martin Jensen (re-recording mixer) Chris Ashworth (Production Sound Mixer)

Costume Design Bafta TV Craft 2017 Michele Clapton

Winner Special, Visual & Graphic Effects BAFTA Television Craft Award One Of Us Molinare

Best Production Design International TV Drama including Mini Series, TV Movie or British Film Designers Guild Awards 2017 Limited Series

Martin Childs (Production Designer) Winner Mark Raggett (Supervising Art Director) BFDG Award Alison Harvey (Set Decorator)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Gillian Anderson

Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actor in a Drama Series Awards 2021 Josh O'Connor

Winner Critics Choice Award Best Drama Series

Best Actress in a Drama Series Emma Corrin

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2021

Emma Corrin Winner Breakthrough Award

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2018 Best Actress Claire Foy Winner Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Online First/Streaming

C21's International Drama Awards 2017 Best Casting of a Drama Series

Left Bank Pictures Winner Netflix C21's International Drama Award

Canadian Cinema Editors Awards 2019 Best Editing in TV Drama

Pia Di Ciaula Winner Episode: Paterfamilias Canadian Cinema Editors Award

Casting Society of America, USA 2019 Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Television Series - Drama

Nina Gold Winner Robert Sterne Artios Award

Costume Designers Guild Awards 2018 Outstanding Period Television Series Winner Jane Petrie CDG Award

Costume Designers Guild Awards 2017 Outstanding Period Television Series Winner Michele Clapton CDG Award

Critics Choice Television Awards 2016 Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Winner John Lithgow Critics' Choice TV Award

Empire Awards, UK 2018

Best TV Series Winner Empire Award

Environmental Media Awards, USA 2017 Television Episodic Drama Winner For the episode "Act of God" EMA Award

Gold Derby Awards 2020 Drama Supporting Actress Winner Helena Bonham Carter Gold Derby TV Award

Gold Derby Awards 2017 Drama Supporting Actor Winner John Lithgow Gold Derby TV Award

Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards 2018 Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling - Television and New Media Series

Ivana Primorac Winner Artisan

Hollywood Post Alliance, US 2018 Outstanding Color Grading - Television Asa Shoul Winner Molinare Studio HPA Awards Episode: "The Crown: Paterfamilias (2017)"

Hollywood Post Alliance, US 2017 Outstanding Color Grading - Television Asa Shoul Winner Molinare Studio HPA Awards Episode: "The Crown: Smoke and Mirrors (2016)"

Il Festival Nazionale del Doppiaggio Voci nell'Ombra 2017 Best Supporting Voice Bruno Alessandro Winner For the of John Lithgow. TV Award

Location Managers Guild International Outstanding Locations in a Period Television Series Awards (LMGI) 2017 Pat Karam

Robert Bentley Winner Tied with Mandi Dillin for Westworld (2016). Outstanding Achievement Award

MovieGuide Awards 2018 Most Inspiring Performance in Television

Paul Sparks Winner "Vergangenheit" Grace Award

Newport Beach Film Festival 2020 Breakthrough Award Winner Erin Doherty Festival Honors Award

Best Actress in a Drama Series Olivia Colman

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Online Film & Television Association 2020 Helena Bonham Carter

Winner Best Production Design in a Series OFTA Television Award

Best Costume Design in a Series

Best Makeup/Hairstyling in a Series

Best Actress in a Drama Series Claire Foy

Online Film & Television Association 2018 Best Drama Series Winner OFTA Television Award Best Production Design in a Series

Best Costume Design in a Series

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series John Lithgow

Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Best Music in a Series Online Film & Television Association 2017 Best Cinematography in a Series Winner OFTA Television Award Best Production Design in a Series

Best Costume Design in a Series

Best Makeup/Hairstyling in a Series

Best New Theme Song in a Series

Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama Peter Morgan Suzanne Mackie Stephen Daldry Andy Harries PGA Awards 2021

Matthew Byam Shaw Winner Robert Fox PGA Award Michael Casey Andy Stebbing Martin Harrison Oona O'Beirn Season 4

Best Digital Effects Royal Television Society, UK 2018 Ben Turner

Winner Effects RTS Craft & Design Award Chris Reynolds One Of Us

Best Digital Effects Royal Television Society, UK 2017 Ben Turner

Winner RTS Craft & Design Award Effects - Digital One Of Us

Satellite Awards 2021 Best Actress in a Series, Drama/Genre Winner Olivia Colman Satellite Award

Satellite Awards 2019 Best Actor in a Series, Drama/Genre Winner Tobias Menzies Satellite Award

Satellite Awards 2017

Best Television Series, Drama Winner Satellite Award

World Soundtrack Awards 2017 Television Composer of the Year Winner Rupert Gregson-Williams World Soundtrack Award

Writers Guild of America, USA 2021 Drama Series

Peter Morgan Winner Jonathan Wilson WGA Award (TV)

Source: “The Crown”, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/awards.