Netflix confirms British Crown original

Netflix has confirmed the widely-expected announcement of its first UK original, British royal family drama The Crown.

News of the project, which has a budget of around $100 million, first broke in May this year. Netflix has remained silent into now. The streaming service has confirmed a 10-part series will debut on Netflix in 2016.

As previously reported, Netflix is working with Sony Pictures Television and the studio’s UK drama subsidiary Left Bank Pictures on the show, which is based on The Queen writer Peter Morgan’s West End play The Audience. Left Bank will be lead producer.

The Crown will look into the relationship of Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s post-war prime ministers. It will begin with a 25-year-old Elizabeth – expected to be played by Claire Foy – and her relationship with Winston Churchill, and will continue through coming decades.

At least three actresses will play the Queen.

“The Crown is not only about the royal family but about an empire in decline, a world in disarray and the dawn of a new era,” said Morgan.

“The Crown is storytelling that lives somewhere between television and cinema from Britain’s foremost chroniclers of modern politics, class and society,” added Cindy Holland, Neflix’s VP of original content.

Morgan executive produces alongside director Stephen Daltry, Left Bank boss Andy Harries, Robert Fox and Matthew Byam Shaw.