The Crown season 5 release: 5 key talking points from confused Harry Potter fans to tampongate

Season five has finally landed on Netflix

The Crown Season 5 trailer

The Crown viewers rejoiced at the arrival of the show’s fifth season on Netflix.

The historical drama returned on Wednesday (9 November) with a new cast stepping into the (rather sensible) shoes of the British royal family.

As The Crown heads into the Nineties, Imelda Staunton has taken over from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II. Jonathan Pryce plays her husband Prince Philip, a role last portrayed by Tobias Menzies.

Season five focuses on the demise of the relationship between the then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana, played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki.

The breakdown of their marriage, including the “tampongate” scandal and Diana’s Panorama interview, are among the most contentious topics covered this season.

The Crown has also been surrounded by controversy as royal supporters have demanded that the series comes with a disclaimer clarifying that it is a work of fiction.

Below you can find six of the major talking points from the season five release.

Fans were hyped by the return of Claire Foy

Episode one of the new series starts with a black-and-white flashback of the queen in her youth. It featured the series’ original Elizabeth II – Claire Foy.

Foy played the Queen in the first two seasons of the show, earning acclaim as well as two Emmy Awards for her performance.

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown' (Keith Bernstein/Netflix)

Many hailed Foy’s performance, with one calling her “irreplaceable” and another stating she is “by far the best portrayal of the queen I’ve seen”.

John Major looked a little too appealing for some viewers

Many were left feeling conflicted as they found themselves fancying the former Conservative prime minister. In the series, Major is played by Trainspotting actor Jonny Lee Miller.

“Why is Johnny Lee Miller playing John Major...he is far too hot. I don’t want to fancy John Major,” one fan wrote, while another added: “If you make me fancy John Major I’ll be furious.”

The Independent previously investigated why a show about largely unsexy people is so ripe with sexy actors.

Harry Potter fans couldn’t get one character out of their mind

Some people found it hard to detach Staunton’s most famous role from her new one as the Queen. Staunton famously starred as the wicked Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

It’s made particularly difficult as Umbridge’s high-pitched, RP accent is not a million miles off Staunton’s interpretation of the Queen’s accent.

“I love Imelda Staunton & she’s cast well as the next queen in The Crown, but sadly I still only hear Umbridge from Harry Potter when she speaks!” one person wrote.

An ‘emotional’ scene between Princess Diana and her sons

One scene from the first episode in particular had fans reaching for the tissue box. In it, Princes William and Harry defend their mother after Prince Charles mocks her suggestion of going shopping while the family is on holiday.

In a follow-up scene, Diana tells her sons: “Thanks for sticking up for me. That was brave.”

“Prince Harry and Prince William standing up for Diana, my heart is lowkey weeeeeeping,” one viewer wrote.

Tampongate

The tampongate scandal refers to a 1989 phone call that was leaked to the press between the then-Prince Charles and his mistress at the time, Camilla Parker Bowles (now the Queen Consort).

The scandal is tackled in the series, however, Princess Anne star Claudia Harrison she believes the British public will be “surprised by” the “truth” of the affair.

In a scene in which Anne talks to Dominic West’s Prince Charles about the recording, she tells him “no one deserves” the humiliation he’s going through, and says that when she got over the “gyneaological” aspect of the transcript, she saw “two teenagers of a certain age being so gloriously human and entirely in love”.

Relive all the major reactions from release day below...

[9 November 2022 10:10 · Isobel Lewis]

Fans have been praising Elizabeth Debicki for her uncanny portrayal of Princess Diana in the show.

[9 November 2022 10:30 · Annabel Nugent]

All the celebrities who have criticised The Crown

Few shows this year have been as controversial as the new season of The Crown .

In the run-up to the release, the call for Netflix to add a disclaimer to the hit series has only grown – supported by a number of celebrities including Judi Dench and Helena Bonham Carter.

[9 November 2022 10:40 · Jacob Stolworthy]

The Crown will reportedly dramatise Princess Diana’s Panorama interview showing ‘what we now know'

Among the most-anticipated scenes to come in this new season is the notorious Panaroma interview between Princess Diana and BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995.

A report by Lord Dyson concluded that the BBC covered up “deceitful behaviour” by Bashir to secure the bombshell interview and led to a call from the Duke of Cambridge for it never to be aired again.

The revelations emerged as scriptwriters were working on the fifth series of Netflix’s hit royal drama, who have apparently incorporated the new information into the forthcoming storyline.

[9 November 2022 11:00 · Annabel Nugent]

The BBC donated over £1.4m to charity to make amends for the Panorama interview, which will be dramatised in The Crown

In September, the BBC donated over £1.4 million made from the sales of the Panorama interview with Princess Diana to charity in order to make amends for the Martin Bashir interview in 1995.

In May last year, BBC apologised to the royal family and returned its Bafta award after an official inquiry concluded that Bashir used “deceitful behaviour” and was in “serious breach” of the corporation’s guidelines when he secured his Panorama interview with the princess.

[9 November 2022 11:20 · Annabel Nugent]

Will The Crown show Princess Diana’s car crash?

While events leading up to royal’s death will feature in the season, Netflix has said that the series will not show the ‘exact moment’ of the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana.

[9 November 2022 11:40 · Nicole Vassell]

Why is everyone in The Crown so sexy?

If you’ve been taken aback by some of the casting decisions of The Crown over the years, you’re not alone.

The Independent’s Adam White has asked the pressing question of why the royal characters and their associates on the show are so attractive.

According to him, “inappropriate sexiness is The Crown’s métier.”

[9 November 2022 11:49 · Jacob Stolworthy]

The Crown season five – review

The Independent’s review of season five is out, and according to Nick Hilton, it’s only a two-star affair.

In his critique of the show as “the very definition of first-world problems”, he writes: “The reality is that The Crown ran out of steam a while ago. It was intended as a piece of historical fiction, playing on the way that the early days of Elizabeth II’s reign had disappeared into the fog of history.

“The longer it has gone on, the more it has assumed an exhaustive and soap operatic quality.”

[9 November 2022 12:13 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Is Claire Foy the greatest Queen Elizabeth II actor there has ever been? Helen Mirren might disagree – but fans of The Crown believe it to be true.

The actor has reprised the role in a flashback scene in the brand new season.

[9 November 2022 12:35 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Many will be tuning into the new season of The Crown to see scenes between Charles and Diana, who are now played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki.

But, it’s a scene involving young Princes William and Harry that’s being highlighted.

[9 November 2022 13:00 · Nicole Vassell]

Having just got over Gillian Anderson’s Margaret Thatcher, viewers are now having to deal with... Jonny Lee Miller’s John Major.