Annus Horribilis
- Episode aired Nov 9, 2022
- TV-MA
- 53m
Between a fire at Windsor Castle and tensions in her children's marriages, the Queen commemorates and reassesses her 40 years on the throne.Between a fire at Windsor Castle and tensions in her children's marriages, the Queen commemorates and reassesses her 40 years on the throne.Between a fire at Windsor Castle and tensions in her children's marriages, the Queen commemorates and reassesses her 40 years on the throne.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPeter Townsend does not specify what disease he is suffering from. The real-life Peter Townsend died from stomach and colon cancer in 1995 at age 80.
- GoofsDuring the press conference around 12:00 minutes, the Archbishop of Canterbury talks into a pair of Sennheiser e604 microphones. The e604 was introduced in 1998, six years after the events depicted. On a side note: The e604 is optimized for the close-miking of drums, more precisely tom toms.
- Quotes
Prince Charles: [to the Queen] It's funny, isn't it? For years I've called for a more modern monarchy that reflects the world outside... but look at the rates of family breakdown out there, and then look at us. Margaret, divorced. Anne, divorced. Andrew humiliated and headed for divorce, me, trapped and DREAMING of divorce, and you talk about moral examples! If we were an ordinary family and social services came to visit they'd have thrown us into care, and YOU into jail!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Javo & Temoc: Top 10 Series: Lo 'mejor' del año (2022)
- SoundtracksAbide with Me
Thus, we were watching a coming of age tale about passionate, impressionable adolescents who were grappling with their own issues of identity, trying to discover who they were, internally - whilst juxtapositioning that against struggling to balance the need for self expression with an external, obligatory sense of crushing duty, casting aside their personal requirements in pursuit of maintaining the national interest... Therefore, it was a gripping, sympathetic narrative which essentially captured one's desires (yearning for freedom) conflicting with societal norms & the weight of other's expectations (which is something we can all empathise with, to a degree) but now, by the 5th series, rather than being unwilling victims of the system they involuntarily found themselves entangled within, THEY have ironically transformed in to the perpetrators & the oppressors.
Hence, the relatability is lost because no longer are they reluctantly within the establishment & actively warring against it. Instead, they're the upholders & enabling its continuation through frustrating levels of passivity. As a consequence, no longer are the characters assertive or proactive in carving out their own futures; they have resigned themselves to their preordained destinies & the battle for their soul has essentially been lost.
For example, Liz isn't even a character anymore (she's a hollow shell of whom she formerly was) because she's lost her sense of self & embodies whatever her role requires her to be in order to act as Queen; the earlier struggle to remain impartial (caused by her initial inexperience & requirement for a period to readjust) we witnessed - when Claire Foy embodied the role - has given way to gradual ambivalence which is practically second nature to her; she never even questions the immorality of it anymore because by this point in her reign, she's become so desensitised to it. Due to this, (although I recognise it as a tragic coping mechanism) most of the time, she has sacrificed her own humanity, never even thinks to use her voice, expresses little (if any) emotion & is notably devoid of personality. Of course, I get that's the point & what the creators are purposefully attempting to convey & it does make those fleeting moments of warmth / imperfection particularly engaging (since they're so rare)... But how are we (as audiences) meant to invest ourselves in the development of someone who seems wholly incapable of it? The world around the monarchy evolves whilst it does not. She's resultantly stagnated & although it's interesting witnessing the cost of remaining constant for 40+ years, I am increasingly finding it harder to see myself in her, nor care about her trials & tribulations - because there's hardly any discernible progression to witness... And rather than express concern for those who suffer the same rueful fate (entering in to the family), the lessons of the past have not been learned - so we're viewing them play out again in the future. That may be historically accurate, poetic & poignant (etc.) or perhaps designed as a cautionary tale, but for whom is this aimed at - considering those who should be listening, likely aren't?
- W011y4m5
- Nov 19, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, UK(Both Wren's exterior architecture and the interior of the Painted Hall stand in for the Guildhall)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1