Ghosts, bloodings and the Dodi ick: The Crown is back

Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana takes centre stage in what may be the riskiest season yet of the Netflix hit, says Melanie McDonagh

- Melanie McDonagh

DON'T worry: you do not actually see the death of Diana. The climax of season six of The Crown happens offstage. At the start of the first episode, we find an amiable Parisian taking his dog for a walk by the Pont d'Alma... then he hears a crash. He calls emergency services: there's been an accident in the tunnel. It's not exactly a spoiler, is it?

It's Diana who dominates The Crown as she did in life. Indeed, Elizabeth Debicki goes one better than the original; she reappears posthumously to tell Charles on the plane returning home with her body - how he'll find things easier without her, and then she turns up on the sofa at Balmoral to tell the Queen it's time to show a bit of emotion. Shades of Blithe Spirit here, and to do Charles and the Queen justice, they take the apparition in their stride.

At the outset, Diana, now unmoored from the royal family, is still consumed by her obsession with Camilla; it's the prospect of Charles's party for Camilla's 50th that drives her to accept the hospitality of Mohamed al Fayed at his villa, along with her sons - an oddly convincing William (Rufus Kampa) and a sweet gingery Harry (Fflyn Edwards). From that, all else follows. There's a lot for Debicki to capture in Diana, but it's the mother-sons bond - tender and physical that she does get across. The young princes aren't comfortable with all the Fayed bling - "He's weird," William whispers about Dodi.

Camilla's birthday celebration demonstrates the continuing rift between Charles and the Queen. He calls to ask her to come to the party. He has to be announced by a flunkey, and bows to HM before his perfunctory kiss. The Queen (Imelda Staunton does a good job of looking down her nose) is having none of it.