The Crown: Season 3, Episode 3- Aberfan

 "Put on a show? The Crown doesn't do that?"

This is, it's fair to say, not at all a typical episode. It is also, I suspect, the one with the least dialogue. The Aberfan tragedy in all its visceral yet man-made horror is made fully manifest to us, from the early scenes of ordinary family life in this South Wales pit village, as the slag hill looms threateningly above, to the scenes of the devastation and its human cost that makes up much of the episode. We see, and hear, the reactions of Lord Snowdon, Prince Philip and finally the Queen, but the unspeakable horror is there for us to see- although, as a father, I found Tony's reaction the most quietly devastating. 

But this episode, as well as being entirely about the tragedy and respectfully allowing the people of Aberfan to take centre stage. Cynically, yet inevitably, there's the potential political fallout, as Harold Wilson swiftly sees. Safety standards were blatantly failed, and had been for years. So was this the fault of the current Labour ministry or the previos Conservative one? The political blame game is as inevitable as it is tasteless. Marcia Williams (I suspect we shall see more of her) is all for sticking it to the Tories, and the Queen too if there's political advantage in doing so. Yet, while this can be seen as cynicism, it is born of a passionate belief in the Labour "movement" and its ability to do good.

And then there's Elizabeth, who spends a week refusing increasingly strong entreaties to visit, insisting that is not the role of the Crown. She is only shamed into doing so by the danger of forces within Labour attacking her seeming heartlessness in public- and has to pretend to wipe away a non-existent tear.

Her concluding scene with Wilson- supposedly the prime minister whom, in reality, the Queen had the best rapport- is superb, as the admits her inability to cry, and her undemonstrative nature. It is, rightly, left unsaid (as it would be in 1966) whether we are supposed to see her as being on the neurodiversity spectrum but, as it is a spectrum, aren't we all? And Wilson's response is brilliant: we need calmness from a head of state, not hysteria. And we all have parts to play, not least the privileged, cigar smoking former Oxford don playing the part of a man of the people.

This is genuinely sublime, and on quite another level. Jason Watkins is excellent but Olivia Colman is truly incredible.

The Crown: Season 3, Episode 2- Margaretology

 "There was a young lady from Dallas, who used a dynamite stick as a phallus. They found her vagina in North Carolina, and her arsehole in Buckingham Palace."

It’s surprising, I suppose, that The Crown has focused so relatively heavily on Margaret. And yet it can’t be denied that they keep finding new and interesting angles to take on Bertie’s second born. This episode manages to be fascinating as a study not only of Margaret but of the contrast and rivalry between the two sisters.

Importantly, the episode begins and ends with a coda, a flashback in 1943, where Tommy Lascelles starts to prepare young Elizabeth for a role for which the more outgoing Margaret would seem to be more suited. Yet Elizabeth is very firmly told, in spite of the fact that both sisters are happy for Margaret to be queen, that that’s not how it works.

In the present day, we are introduced to a fun little turn from an excellent Clancy Brown, who may not resemble LBJ but manages to be damned convincing as the old Texan arm-twister. And the whole episode centres on the UK being in the desperate position of needing an economic ball out from the USA-but we are not LBJ’s favourite country because Wilson won’t touch Vietnam, quite rightly, with a bargepole.

Enter Margaret, to save the day with charm, emotional intelligence, bawdiness and limericks. Helena Bonham Carter is superb here, as Margaret achieves things the Queen could never achieve, in an episode constantly seething with sibling rivalry.

We also see the cracks in Margaret’s marriage getting deeper, and Elizabeth getting fonder of Wilson. But it all ends, nicely, with Philip channelling a theory of Lascelles from when they got drunk together last season- there are the dull Windsor’s and the dazzling ones, and they always come in pairs. For every Bertie there’s a David, for every Elizabeth, a Margaret.

It’s a masterfully crafted and paced piece of telly. I’m not sure it’s particularly deep but the craftsmanship is superb.

Legend of the Werewolf (1975)

"We do not cater for unusual tastes in here!"

This looks and feels like a Hammer horror film, is directed by Freddie Francis and stars Peter Cushing, but technically it isn't- it's made by Tyburn Films, a company specifically set up to continue the Hammer tradition after the Hammer horrors sadly came to an end (well, if you ignore To the Devil... a Daughter). Sadly, Tyburn only made three further films before giving up the ghost in 1975, and this is the last of those; very much the end of an era.

This is, essentially, a bog standard average Hammer horror in both style and quality. It's hard to gauge how dated this would have felt, if at all, in 1975, but the quality is certainly good enough, if not great. The script is ok, Cushing carries the film with his usual charisma and there's a delightful performance by Hugh Griffith early on. And the rather poor werewolf make-up is more than compensated for by some extremely clever effects and direction.

The setting is mid-nineteenth century France, a time of brothels (Ron Moody plays the very dirtiest of dirty old men), daguerreotypes and Napoleon III; a little later in time and a little to the west of the usual setting for these films but suitably atmospheric as far as Hammer goes. The script may be predictable, David Rintoul may be an average actor but, as ever, the film is carried by the splendid Peter Cushing as a pathologist who constantly solves cases for the inspector.

Not a bad film, then, and perhaps quite fitting that (and yes, I know this technically isn't a Hammer horror film, and that there would be one more such film to go, but...) it's a suitable closure for an era of which I am very fond.