Time to be a grown-up with The Crown

Sometimes I worry that, what with all my wallowing in animated films, sci-fi, fairy-tale-inspired fantasy and not least youtube clips commenting on these phenomena, I will no longer be able to appreciate more mature and sophisticated ways of entertainment when they come along. What if I've devolved into a mere "beast", like the Macra in Doctor Who? Is it maybe a bad sign that I know who the Macra in Doctor Who are?

My fears seemed to be confirmed when I started to watch the undoubtedly-for-grown-ups Netflix series The Crown, which has been praised by just about every costume-drama viewer in the world. The first scene shows the present Elizabeth II's father, George VI, coughing up blood in the bathroom, and my first reactions were childish enough: "Eugh!" and "Right. Bored now."

Luckily, things picked up from there. There's no denying - and who would want to? - that the series is very well done indeed, and can easily hold a candle to anything BBC or ITV at its most lavish produce. The acting is superb - once again Claire Foy shines, this time as the main character Queen Elizabeth - the setting breathes authenticity and the script creates entirely believable scenes for the characters. You keep thinking "yes, it must have been exactly like this". There's not even clunky exposition camouflaged as dialogue of the kind you otherwise always get even in the best costume dramas: this means that some bit-players' identity remains a mystery until it is natural for someone to mention their name, but it's worth it as we then don't get stilted explanatory remarks such as "Ah, Mike, my dear cousin/friend since childhood" (yes, I'm still not sure how Prince Philip and Mike know each other) or "do you really think I can take on Churchill, Lord Salisbury, also known for unfathomable reasons as Bobbety?". Peter Morgan also wrote the script to the film The Queen and the play The Audience - both of which I've seen and enjoyed - and you trust him implicitly when it comes to capturing the personalities of the Queen and her entourage. The tone is even more assured in The Crown than in the other Elizabeth II-themed pieces mentioned, where some things would grate (the too-laboured stag metaphor in The Queen and some PMs in The Audience who were caricatured rather than convincingly portrayed).

But - to be honest - not a lot happens, does it? I've watched six episodes out of the first ten to be released, and though, thanks to the smoothness and believability, the story doesn't creak, it certainly moves at a rather majestic pace. Maybe it is partly my devolved Macra brain: the timing for watching The Crown could undeniably have been better, as after the sugar rush of two seasons of Once Upon A Time, it felt very much like slow-carb TV. All the same, I'm starting to wonder whether Elizabeth II's reign is that interesting a chunk of English history, and whether (whisper it) the characters are as fascinating as all that. They're certainly likeable: The Crown ought to give the senior members of the British royal family a well-deserved popularity boost. Even so, inveterate consumer of royal gossip as I am, I still fail to be engrossed by the small niggles of the Queen's and Prince Philip's essentially stable and happy marriage. Each episode features one main plot-line with not many sub-plots to speak of, and I did find myself thinking more than once that they weren't really worth all the time and attention lavished on them.

Of course it's a good series. I don't even feel resentful when people call it "the new Downton", because I know what they're driving at. This is period drama of the highest quality, plus an enjoyable way to learn more about recent British history (I had never even heard of the killing London fog of 1952). But Downton (not being hampered by reality) had more intricate plot-lines and a larger cast of characters to engage in. With the risk of sounding like the philistine Emperor in Amadeus complaining about the Marriage of Figaro having "too many notes", I'd say that for me at least, The Crown has too few storylines and too few main characters to be truly addictive. Not to mention no villains whatsoever (an amusingly catty Duke of Windsor doesn't count).

In spite of its level of ambition, I think the rest of the series will do well as post-gym watching, when I feel in the appropriate calm zen mode. Right now, though, Once season three awaits: maybe Neverland is the best place for me.