Netflix has been a powerhouse in TV and movie watching for years, but now that Netflix is releasing original content, it can’t be stopped. One of its most recent releases, The Crown, is a historical drama based on the play “The Audience” by Peter Morgan. The show follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II (played by Claire Foy) from the 1940s to now.

The show begins with the descending health of her father, King George VI (played by Jared Harris), and her taking the throne at age 25. With romance, politics, and family, the show covers events that have shaped history in the past decades.

Like other historical dramas, the show must be careful mixing facts and embellishments. This is especially relevant because Queen Elizabeth II is still alive. However, the show’s creators didn’t have much of a problem because the truth was and still is plenty dramatic.

“A lot of the time, you just couldn’t make it up,” Script Editor Edward Hemming said. “Things like that tremendous scene where King George has a serious operation in the Palace underneath chandeliers, rather than in a hospital, may seem dramatized — but that’s what actually happened.”

Without too much additional drama, the story carried itself. And it definitely worked.

The Crown appeals to the history buff in all of us, the fan of drama in all of us, and the binge-watcher in all of us. The ten episode season was easy to rip through, and the show does a great job adding personality to history. It felt like watching a fictional drama, however knowing that it was all (or mostly) true made it infinitely more interesting.

Especially as Americans, this is a section of history that not many people know. Though most know of Queen Elizabeth II, most don’t know how she came to power and became the longest reigning monarch in British history.

For those who want to learn about history in a fun and engaging way, The Crown is a great way to kill two birds with one stone. However, for those that don’t find history interesting, this may not be for you since it is deeply rooted in factual history. But for more casual history fans or lovers of TV dramas, The Crown is a hit.

The show has received both positive and negative reviews, but nothing has come from the Queen herself.

“I wouldn’t dream of trying to predict what the Queen might think of the show, but what I will say is I don’t think there’s anything critical or resentful in it. We’ve just told it as it is,” Left Bank Picture’s head of research Kerry Gill-Pryde said.

Maybe they don’t know what the Queen will think, but the general public is definitely a fan of the Netflix show.

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐∙

4 out of 5 stars