Creating the Claustrophobic World of The Crown (Netflix, 2016–2023) Through a Visual Concept of Containment

Abstract

The Crown tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, showing the personal and political dramas behind the scenes. The show stitches together a portfolio of locations and set builds to create a claustrophobic sense of containment. In reality, Buckingham Palace is fragmented, whereas the design for the show creates a continuity of space that generates a world that becomes an enclosed system, trapping the royal family within. The production designer of the show, Martin Childs, says, ‘My sets look as much like the real thing as Claire Foy looks like the Queen. I always want my work not to be visible but to be inevitable so that the audience looks at it and accepts it without question. Part of that is keeping tied together several different locations.’ (Author interview, 2019). Using rigorous research, Childs attempts to ‘get to the truth that is other than the facts.’