Tag Archive: Claire Foy


The very British coup of The Crown

Filed under: Politics, Television — Leave a comment
December 2, 2016

THE CROWN Season 1 – Netflix TV Series written and created by Peter Morgan (UK/USA, 2016)

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If you ever get me on the subject of the Royal Family it won’t be too long before you hear words like ‘leeches’ and ‘parasites’ or  me expressing the view that The Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’ would make a better national anthem for the UK.

My wife and I therefore began watching season 1 of The Crown on Netflix more out of morbid curiosity than out of any real expectation of viewing pleasure.

I was waiting to see how many layers of superficial dross and gloss would be applied in order to present HRH in a positive light. But the opening scene of King George VI coughing up blood (red not blue!) signals that creator Peter Morgan has something else in mind. Continue reading →

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TEPID WHITE HEAT

Filed under: Gender, Music, Politics, Television — Leave a comment
April 14, 2012

WHITE HEAT – written by Paula Milne, directed by John Alexander (BBC Two)

The White Heat seven – the way they were.

White Heat reached a lukewarm finale this week.  What began promisingly eventually fizzled out  to a largely predictable and heavily stage-managed conclusion.

In the six part drama we followed the fortunes of seven characters over a heady 25 year period.

This group first meet as students in a shared house in North London. Each part is set in a different year, beginning in 1965 and ending in 1990.

A present day perspective is established from the outset with the now ageing group gathering at the home of one of the seven who has been found dead at his or her home.

The identity of the deceased is not revealed until the final episode and the contents of a locked safe is not opened until right at the end – this plot device  kept me watching to find out who had snuffed it and what his or her secret was; I’m not entirely sure I’d have made it to the finish otherwise. Continue reading →

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