Episode 2 - Margaretology: wonderful episode! It truly made me fall in love with Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Margaret. Now I am sold on Bonham Carter.
Episode 3 - Aberfan: oh my God, what a poignant episode. I honestly cried a bit in this one. I had no idea about this tragedy which is clearly important in British culture. The art in this episode was outstanding. The scene in which everything stops during the PM’s visit, with the figures carrying the bodies in penumbra, was one of the best visuals I have seen on the small screen. This episode sold me on Mrs Colman portrayal of Her Majesty. I also wonder if PM Wilson‘s portrayal is accurate; I don’t know much if anything about him, but I am impressed by how a seemingly minor and linear character is actually neither minor nor linear. I can’t wait for
@Scepticalscribe to tell me more about the PM. I must add that all the supporting characters of this episode were amazing, which means that the director really did an incredible job.
Haven't seen the episode, (and won't see it until the DVD becomes available and I can buy it) so cannot really say how accurate the portrayal of Harold Wilson is.
Anyway, Harold Wilson was an exceptionally clever, skilful and subtle, politician, who gave the impression of an affable and genial personality. As a politician, and political leader, he successfully portrayed an image of himself as a "man of the people" - which, to a considerable extent, he was, his background was very ordinary and, in fact, his father had actually been made redundant during the Great Depression, while his mother was a teacher - in marked contrast to the moneyed aristocrats who had (largely) preceded him as PM, and he would have been very much seen as an example of social mobility.
He was very, very bright - a scholarship boy to Grammar School, followed by more scholarships to Oxford, where he obtained an outstanding first class honours degree, and where he taught before being recruited to the public service during the second world war (and he had sought to join the armed forces), where he worked on the sort of stuff that later became public policy under Attlee's postwar Labour government.
As with so many in liberal circles, he started on the far left, - (although even that was pragmatic rather than ideologically informed) and some silly conservative types were taken in by his rhetoric (rather than what he actually did) but eventually, over time, found his way to the social-democratic centre.
Some would call him a pragmatist - or opportunist - par excellence, but subtle, and clever men are often not trusted by their colleagues in political organisations and may be suspected of lacking in ideological fervour - but his actions could be informed by a subtle ethical awareness, too.
For example, unlike Tony Blair re Iraq, he refused to become involved (despite considerable pressure) in the US war in Vietnam. Likewise, access to tertiary education was opened up under his government - he was instrumental in ensuring that the Open University got off the ground and secured adequate funding to ensure that it worked well.
While I have a huge admiration for Clement Attlee, (and I personally, would have loved to have seen John Smith - who had the charisma of Tony Blair, and the intellect, integrity and moral authority of Gordon Brown - live long enough to have become Prime Minister), I think that Harold Wilson came close to Tony Blair in terms of how attractive he was to the electorate at large.
For, he was "likeable", and congenial company, (and also highly intelligent with superb political antennae) and - long before The Crown - it had been fairly reliably reported that HM had actually liked Harold Wilson. Despite the fact that he was a Labour PM, he was supposed to have been one of her favourite Prime Ministers. What is a matter of record is that when he announced that he was to retire as PM, Queen Elizabeth came to dine at No 10 Downing Street, an honour she bestowed on only one other Prime Minister, the legendary Winston Churchill.
