Yahoo News How critics have soured on The Crown over the years
The Netflix series was once highly praised by critics, but recent years has seen a marked downturn in ratings.
The Crown is coming to an end with the final six episodes of its sixth season, but it has been some time since the Netflix hit fell foul with critics.
First airing in 2016, the series spans decades in Queen Elizabeth II's life from her early years as sovereign, to her relationship with her children as a teen and young adult, and then in her later years. Three actors have played the monarch over the course of the show's six seasons: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton, but as time has gone on interest in the show has waned.
Yahoo has crunched the numbers and analysed the data to bring a definitive examination on how the response from critics, and viewers, has changed over the years. Here is everything you need to know.
How critics have soured on The Crown over the years
Using data from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, it is clear that critics began to sour on The Crown with its most recent seasons, which is when the show came closer to living memory and opened itself to more criticism over the historical accuracy of the series.
When The Crown first began it received a strong response from critics, averaging a rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to the series' strong debut. Starring Foy and Matt Smith as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, the first season depicted the events in the royal family's life up until 1955 and then the second was focused on key moments from the Queen's life between 1956 to 1964.
The second season saw a rise in critic response, with reviews remaining positive and the average rating given going up to 89%. The two seasons were praised by critics for having "powerful performances" from Foy and Smith, whilst the "lavish cinematography" and stunning costumes were also commended.
This success continued into seasons three and four, the first of which received an average rating of 90% and the fourth marked the peak of the franchise's success with critics by garnering a 96% approval rating. The two seasons saw the show's focus move to the period between 1964 to 1977 in season 3 and 1979 to 1990 in the fourth season.
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Critics praised the way in which the series allowed the ensemble cast to shine alongside Colman, who was praised for her take on Queen Elizabeth II much like her predecessor. The fourth season was also beloved by critics thanks to the power of the performances within it, particularly from Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin's depiction of Lady Diana Spencer.
Season four marked a change in focus from the Queen to the relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana, then played by Josh O'Connor and Corrin respectively. While the way this season depicted the couple's relationship was the reason for the peaked interest from critics, it is also the reason for its later downfall as critics soured on the series with its fifth season and the first half of the sixth.
Season five and six saw the cast change again, with Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki taking on the roles of Prince Charles and Princess Diana for the period of 1991 to 1997 for the first, and 1997 to 2005 for the latter. Both seasons received a markedly lower score than its predecessors, with season five earning just 71% approval rating from critics and the part one of season six earning the lowest score of the entire franchise: 54%.
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The reason for this is simple: most critics disliked the way in which the first half of season six approached Princess Diana's final days, but mostly the decision to include her ghost in scenes with Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II following her death on 31 August, 1997.
Despite critics disliking the more recent seasons of The Crown, viewers on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb have maintained a generally positive response to the show. With the former, viewers gave season one an average rating of 95% while season six part one has an average rating of 93%. The lowest rated season for viewers on both platforms is the fifth season, which received an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 78% on IMDb.
With the show's focus moving away from Princess Diana and going to key historical moments like the death of Princess Margaret, Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Prince William's early romance with future wife Kate Middleton, critics may well respond better to the show's swan song.
The Crown season six part two premieres on Netflix on Thursday, 14 December.
Watch the trailer for The Crown season six part two:
