I can't wait for the next dose of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ as Diana returns to our screens

From the fashion to the controversy of the time, the next instalment will be full of nostalgia, writes Charlotte Cripps

Emma Corrin plays Princess Diana in season four of 'The Crown' (Des Willie/Netflix)

I love The Crown, so when Netflix released some brand new photographs of Emma Corrin as Princess Diana and Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher this week from its upcoming series, I was fascinated.

The fourth season – which starts on 15 November – introduces Diana and Thatcher for the first time as it follows the royal family throughout the late 1970s and 1980s.

It covers Prince Charles’ and Diana’s wedding, as well as tensions between Thatcher and the Queen, played again by Olivia Coleman.

Corrin has nailed Diana’s look; in one image she’s in a yellow ensemble with her famous sapphire engagement ring visible while being snapped by the paparazzi. 

She recreates Diana arriving at the Royal Opera House in 1981 for a charity recital with Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) in another photo. 

Meanwhile, Anderson looks undoubtedly like Thatcher with her bouffant hair as she waves from outside 10 Downing Street, posing just like Thatcher did when she was elected in 1979, with Denis Thatcher next to her, played by Stephen Boxer.

Corrin and Anderson join a long list of actors who have played Princess Diana and Thatcher.

Twilight’s Kristen Stewart is to set to star as Diana in forthcoming film Spencer about her break-up from Prince Charles, while Naomi Watts played her in the 2013 biographical film Diana about the last years of her life.

Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her take on Thatcher in 2011’s The Iron Lady. 

Andrea Riseborough, Lindsay Duncan, Patricia Hodge and Greta Scacchi have all played the former Tory leader, while comedian Steve Nallon voiced the Thatcher puppet in ITV’s Spitting Image for 12 years. 

But it’s not about who is the best at it. The 73 million households worldwide who watch The Crown will be tuning in for the intrigue and glamour – a glimpse at what goes on behind palace walls. 

It will almost be like Diana is back from the dead for some – although Thatcher’s return is hardly appealing.

I can’t wait for it – it’s a trip down memory lane I’ll definitely be going on.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer