Secrets Of The Crown

We Go Behind The Scenes On Royal Show

- John Hiscock

Picture the scene… Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis are at Balmoral, stony-faced as the Queen and her family persuade them to play Ibble Dibble, a boisterous drinking game that involves being dabbed on the face with a burnt cork.

Add the fact that Thatcher is being played by X Files star Gillian Anderson, who makes an astoundingly convincing Iron Lady, and you have one of the best scenes from the new season of The Crown.

We were on the set to watch some of the filming and talk to the cast and creator Peter Morgan. We have also seen every episode of the fourth series, which kicks off on Netflix next month.

Jealous? You should be. This series picks up in the late 1970s and covers a tumultuous decade, with the Queen, again being played by Olivia Colman, and the Royal Family at the centre of drama and turmoil.

Prince Charles meets and marries Lady Diana Spencer, Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister and clashes with the Queen, the IRA assassinates Lord Mountbatten, and Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, leading to war in the South Atlantic.

The Queen’s dealings with Thatcher are key to the new series. Anderson, 51, says: “A large part of it is about her relationship with the Queen, which was challenging because they were alike in some ways and very dissimilar in others.

“And I think the differences sometimes were infuriating for both of them. We address that tension between them quite a lot through the entire series.”

At one stage Prince Philip, played by Tobias Menzies, 46, warns the Queen: “Two bears can’t live in one cage.” And Denis Thatcher (Stephen Boxer) comments: “Two menopausal women.”