Do we need another drama about Queen Elizabeth II?

Dame Helen Mirren played the monarch brilliantly in her Oscar-winning turn in The Queen. And now Netflix's new series The Crown, should make a star out of Claire Foy, who gives us a young Liz with emotional depth and humanity.

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The story begins in 1947, when King George VI (Jared Harris) is on the throne but showing signs of illness, which he tries to ignore. Elizabeth is about to marry Philip (Matt Smith), who is not considered a suitable match by the rest of the royal family or the government. But as we see, there is love between them.

"We all imagine it's a fairy-tale. It's anything but," says Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen and created this 10-part series.

The Crown isn't only about Elizabeth, but rather her whole family and those around them, points out John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill in the series.

"With about 10 amazing storylines roiling around in a high-stakes world, you have a pretty gripping tale. It's like the classiest soap opera ever created," he says.

By 1951, the 25-year-old Elizabeth has two children, Charles and Anne, and is happily married. George VI is ailing but keeping his cancer a secret. Meanwhile, Churchill reasserts himself, becoming prime minister again at 76 after having been ousted after World War II.

"He thinks of himself as the man who saved England," says Lithgow, referring to Churchill's role in WWII. "And he still thinks of himself the same way as an old man, believing he is the only one who can deal with [Soviet leader Josef] Stalin."

Lithgow is an unlikely choice for Churchill, standing about a foot taller that the real 20th-century icon, but Morgan told the actor that in the series they wanted to "turn people's expectations on their heads".

"I don't look like a tall man in the series," observes Lithgow. "A fat suit on a high waist has a remarkable effect."

While Churchill was fending off younger political rivals – such as Anthony Eden (Jeremy Northrup) – he was one of the few who knew that George was ailing. But even he was taken somewhat by surprise when the king died in February 1952 at 56.

Knowing that a lot of what he considered important lay in the balance, the British leader felt it was his duty to teach the young Elizabeth "how to be a queen in order to save the monarchy", says Lithgow. "Half the country wanted to get rid of it, because they had other problems during post-war Britain."

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