Things to look forward to in 2023

I had planned to blog about Andor (which is really good, by the way) and have a serious "do ends justify the means?"-discussion about the pros and cons of ruthless rebel tactics, but – sorry, I'm just too tired. So a new year's list post it is, where I will probably forget to mention some obvious items because of ignorance or brain-mushiness. I will get to Andor next year. I think. Anyway...

The 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials So I know I've tried to play it cool and manage expectations when it comes to the return of Russell T Davies as show-runner, but... oh boy, this just looks so good. David Tennant back as an interim Doctor until Ncuti Gatwa takes over the reins; Donna Noble, one of the best RTD companions, back and possibly regaining memories from her time with the Doctor (I know more sophisticated fans have praised Davies for the "hard choice" of never letting Donna get her memories back, but I for one won't be disappointed if she does – I'm not one for hard choices); Donna's family reappearing, including her probably-not-as-snooty-anymore mum Sylvia and the late Bernard Cribbins as lovely grandpa Wilf; and last but not least, Neil Patrick Harris as a promisingly flamboyant-looking villain who must surely be the much-talked-about Celestial Toymaker. I know Harris as Barney from How I Met Your Mother, but I'm sure he'll be "legend-ary" as a villainous mastermind. And if the show has a deal with Disney + now, does that mean that Swedes get to see it almost at the same time as Brits? Here's hoping!

The Gilded Age season two It's no new Downton, yet. But with any luck, it's getting there. I'm amazed we can already look forward to the second season, after we had to wait so long for the first one, but if HBO trailers can be trusted, it's coming next year. I'm excited to get a new dose of the excellent Mr Russell, plus I'll be able to get two blog posts out of it: one where I follow up my predictions for season two, and one where I make new ones for season three (which must be in the works). There hasn't been that much talk about the show, but someone, somewhere, can still make The Gilded Age happen. I'm certain of it.

Grand Admiral Thrawn in live action – and a new Mandalorian season All right, so Andor is probably, objectively, the best-written live-action Star Wars TV show so far, and I did enjoy it. But if I'm honest, The Mandalorian remains my personal favourite. I just like the characters more than the ones in Andor (though the latter are intriguingly complex), and The Mandalorian has more of a classic Star Wars feel, along with an atmospheric Space Western vibe I really like – and I'm not even that into Westerns usually. Ahsoka will also be coming this year, where we'll surely get to see Grand Admiral Thrawn. Come now, I didn't sit through Rebels for nothing. Thrawn wasn't all I hoped he would be in that series, but he was still a tasty villain, and he cannot remain abducted by space whales. That's just waste of Star Wars villain talent.

Loki season two Well, what can I say? I mean, it's Loki! As I thought the first season got better and better as it went on, my expectations for season two are pretty high. They'd better start giving us some answers about how all these timeline retcons work though, as well as explain why Sylvie's timeline was pruned in the first place (my theory is, because she showed worrying tendencies towards becoming heroic).

Sanditon series three I googled "costume dramas 2023" in order to find something to balance out all this geekery and... this is what I can come up with. Yes, a Great Expectations adaptation will also be airing, but as it seems to be from the same people who made a "dark" A Christmas Carol which sounds so awful I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it, my hopes aren't that high. But Sanditon series three will probably be fun. Maybe poor Charlotte will finally get her man in this one?

Possibly, a new Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fforde Look, I don't need earnest immigration allegories from the creator of the Goliath Corporation. Just gimme more Thursday.                            

The Crown season five: Is Peter Morgan getting tired of royals?

Yep, I, too, thought the Mohamed Al-Fayed episode was the best one.

That's not my only unoriginal reaction to season five of The Crown. Did I notice that this season was overall kinder to the British royal family than the last two seasons? Yes I did. Was I appalled that Peter Morgan used the death of a child – a real-life tragedy – as the starting point of a questionable, speculative plot-line? Yes, I was. Was I surprised at how sympathetically "tampon-gate" was handled? Yes, pleasantly surprised even – it was nice to hear someone make the point that private conversations between lovers often are embarrassing and idiotic, though I have a hard time imagining this sentiment coming from Princess Anne. Did I gape over the effrontery of adding lines to the Queen's "Annus Horribilis" speech (though I admit I don't remember much of it, so you could have fooled me) and inventing a cringey conversation between John Major and Prince Charles where the latter tries to convince the former that the Queen has had her day? Yes... well, you get the picture by now.

This is only a handful of the sentiments expressed in more than one review of The Crown with which I am in agreement. So what remains to be said? Is there anything I can add as someone who hasn't had the same feeling of disenchantment as the series became increasingly anti-monarchist as many others, seeing I wasn't that into it in the first place?

Well, the fact that I'm not the only one who thought "Mou Mou" was by far the most fascinating episode (and I may have a slight ruthless-capitalist-patriarch bias) does raise a tentative question. Can it be that Peter Morgan is losing interest in the protagonists of the show, and the main theme of the series (whether all those sacrifices to royal duty Are Really Worth It)? The Waleses' marriage is such a train wreck it's hard not to get sucked in, as in the previous season, but otherwise Morgan has few new points to make about the royals themselves. It's always a treat to see Timothy Dalton, but did we really need a retread of Princess Margaret's grievances in connection with her old amour Peter Townsend? I love Jonathan Pryce, but his main storyline as Prince Philip is his friendship with Penny Knatchbull and how their closeness supposedly makes the Queen jealous. Cases of "emotional infidelity", when a man or woman doesn't betray their partner sexually but romantically moons over another person, deserve to be addressed more often in drama, but my goodness, not like this. If the real Prince Philip offered any solace to a grieving mother at a time when most others would actively have avoided her company, then more power to him. Such an act of kindness doesn't deserve to be cheapened and cast in a doubtful light.

As for the Queen herself, Imelda Staunton puts in a great performance as always, but she feels strangely wasted in the part. Her Queen is softer than Olivia Colman's tough bird, but we don't learn a lot about her personality-wise, and the parallel to the ageing royal yacht Britannia is really laboured. There's something wrong when you suspect that an actor got to flex their acting muscles more in the Harry Potter films than in a relatively high-prestige affair (though not as high-prestige as it once was) like The Crown.

In contrast, the drama feels more inspired when it concerns characters outside the royal family. Al-Fayed's relationship to his valet Sydney Johnson, which develops into a friendship after an inauspicious start (Al-Fayed gets Johnson fired from the Ritz for implied racist reasons, but makes a U-turn when he realises Johnson is the Duke of Windsor's former valet) could be a subject of its own film. Dr Khan, the surgeon who catches Princess Diana's eye, is portrayed as a real sweetie – you understand what Diana sees in him. The conflict between two BBC bosses, if a little forced, is refreshing as Morgan shows more sympathy for the old traditionalist who lost his leg as a war prisoner than the slick moderniser. In the episode where Charles and Diana finally divorce, we see scenes between other divorcing couples which I for one found engaging: here we had ministories about marriage breakdowns which sometimes made me go "Aw, give it another try" and sometimes "Yeah, you two should never have got married".

I can't help wondering whether Peter Morgan regrets having signed up for six seasons of The Crown. He still seems genuinely interested in the Charles and Diana breakup, which is evenhandedly portrayed insofar as the protagonists take turns in behaving really badly. But apart from that, royal affairs don't seem to interest him the way they once did. Maybe he'd rather make a series or film about something else, like the rise of a hard-headed Egyptian businessman and social climber.