The Crown - Season 03 (Amazon Excl.) [DVD] [2020] [Amazon Exclusive]

Another thirteen years in the life of the Royals. As ever a Queen who never wanted the position, but from the start has been motivated by her faith and sense of duty. One senses she somewhat overwhelmed by it all, her prop arguably too much reliance on protocol. For her, it always important to maintain stability, especially in a world forever in turmoil.Tellingly depicted is the effect of unswerving traditions on those around her, for more independent family members the policy like a straitjacket, ever to frustrate. In different ways they crave self-fulfilment: Margaret going sadly awry, Philip and Charles illuminatingly finding their own ways to cope.So much to applaud here. Superb acting, not just from the main cast (all worthy successors to those who went before). Evocative recreation of key events - including the heartrending tragedy of Aberfan.A lot has been made of historical inaccurances and wrongly ascribed motives, but many perhaps will feel the series captures the essence of how things really were (and, indeed, continue to be).(Among incidents one wonders if for real.... Did the Duchess of Windsor really give Charles a compass to help steer him in the desired direction?)

Wife loved it

A most edifying piece of real and fake history. The show's conversations sound like quotations and settle nicely into the movement of memory. A rather amazing episode is of the burial of a school by a collapsed slag heap in the coal mining village of Aberfan, Wales. This was to Elizabeth II what the Blitz was to George VI, when a German Luftwaffe bomb hit Buckingham palace. Children in the buried primary school choked to death by coal waste. In my view a murder of innocents by the then Coal Board and the awful requirement of capitalism to shave off costs. This series was first broadcast by Netflix and released in November 2019. There are ten episodes. The story of the dissolute Princess Margaret brings a sadness to the heart of the monarchy. Princess Margaret seemed unhappy. The smallest detail about the royal family is subject to becoming a piece of the fabric of the narrative. A very compulsive series albeit one of huge ambition. The well crafted episodes tingle the mind with their content, a story with substance and also a story of fiction, wrapped beneath the bare skeleton of royal tasks and duties.

Series 3 is not as interesting as series 1&2.Also some of the actors who replaced main characters are not as good as in previous series.My big concern is packaging.The blue ray boxes are far to huge for 4 blue ray discs they holding.They take a lot of space on the shelf.Especially people who have a big collection of DVDs and Blue Rays you would really prefer slim cases!Also those cases very often are getting stuck when you try to close them and it gives you a struggle.

One of the best series iv ever watched on DVD.BRILLIANT......

I’m a republican would prefer a President that’s elected and don’t hold with people who have their boiled eggs served with a member of staff cutting soldiers! Prince Charles before going to boarding school etc. It the difference shown purely because of birth. However this series has been superbly acted, no holes barred look at how the crown really lives. Shows the ice that runs through the Queens veins. At least Prince Philip cared, so did Charles before he met his “Wallis”. Could have been the best with Diana by his side. Like the Queen, he couldn’t bear to be upstaged. Unfortunately they hang themselves with these cold icy ways.I give it 5 stars not because I’m a monarchist but because you see the real truth behind the facade.

Mum loves thess

For my money, this is the best series yet. The scripts are outstanding and I would defy anyone not to shed a tear in the episode on the Aberfan disaster. Olivia Coleman is brilliant as the Queen, despite being too tall and having the wrong color eyes. Tobias Menzies makes a great Prince Philip, but for me the standout performance was by Jason Watkins as PM Harold Wilson. The whole production is a visual treat.