The Troubles in Northern Ireland appears to be largely glossed over in the third season of “The Crown” on Netflix
“The Crown” season three will arrive on Netflix on November 17 and one Irish critic is concerned about the lack of coverage The Troubles receives in the upcoming season.
Read More: IRA murder of Lord Mountbatten to feature in season 3 of ‘The Crown’
Oliva Coleman takes over from Claire Foy in the new season of "The Crown," which spans 1964 - 1977. Northern Ireland’s era of The Troubles began in 1968 and lasted for about 30 years, until the signing of The Good Friday agreement in 1998.
With the overlap, one would think that The Troubles would feature even minimally at best in the new season, but as Irish critic Ed Power points out, that isn’t the case.
Writing for The Irish Times, Power says: “For Irish viewers, the latest installment of Peter Morgan’s glamorous portrait of the life, times and domestic travails of the British monarch is notable for its omissions rather than for its adherence to costume caper convention."
Power continues: “Watching The Crown, you’d never guess that nationalists had been burned from their homes, 14 unarmed civilians gunned down by the first battalion of the parachute regiment, or that the Provisional IRA bombed Belfast to a standstill and then brought its campaign to England.
“Louis Mountbatten (Charles Dance at full Tywin Lannister clip) was to die in an IRA attack in 1979. The outbreak of Troubles would, you might imagine, be vaguely pertinent to the royals and their story, if only to foreshadow Mountbatten’s fate in Mullaghmore.
“Not so, though The Crown does find space for many other major events,” Power writes, pointing to the inclusion of 1970s miners’ strike, the Cold War, the Moon landing, and the 1966 Aberfan disaster in South Wales.
Read More: 'The Crown' Season 2 trailer shows humiliation and scandal for Queen Elizabeth II
Power alleges that show creator Peter Morgan’s “scrubbing out of Ireland and of Britain’s fumbles in the North” is in line with Morgan's apparent “empathy with the Windsors,” which Power says now takes “precedence.”
“Nobody emerges well from Northern Ireland in the 1970s," writes Power, "the UK establishment least of all. Yet The Crown has insisted from the outset that Elizabeth is an ordinary woman doing her best in extraordinary circumstances. To see her reckoning with Bloody Sunday might shatter that spell. And it would perhaps push against the portrait of 1970s Britain as a charming basket case, eccentric as you like but essentially on the side of the angels."
Power recalls a conversation he had with Peter Morgan about the significance of “The Crown” in the wake of Brexit. Morgan told Power: “Now that we have made this inexplicable decision to cut ourselves off – or at least for some people explicable, let’s not make a judgment call – we have made the decision 52 to 48 to go alone ... and if we are going to go alone, isn’t it a good moment to look at who we are and what we are?
“A lot of, especially elderly people, in his country feel more connected to the commonwealth. When you’ve a head of state whose natural centre of gravity is the commonwealth, it is hard for us to think that the centre of gravity is Europe. I do think that plays a role.”
Power ultimately concludes: “Morgan’s sprawling story as yet has no place for Ireland, north or south.”
Read More: 'The Crown’ Queen Elizabeth actress Claire Foy has humble Irish roots
On November 12, Netflix released this new featurette teaser for season three of “The Crown:”
Do you think The Troubles of Northern Ireland should be a focus in "The Crown"? Let us know in the comments
Comments