Claim: The Crown (TV series) starred an actress.

The Crown is a biographical drama television series , created and written by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix . The show is a biographical story about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom . The first season covers the period between the Queen 's marriage to Philip , Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 to the disintegration of her sister Princess Margaret 's engagement to Peter Townsend in 1955 . A second season has been commissioned , which is intended to cover the Suez Crisis in 1956 through the retirement of the Queen 's third Prime Minister , Harold Macmillan , in 1963 following the Profumo affair political scandal .   The Crown evolved out of Morgan 's 2006 film The Queen and 2013 stage play The Audience . The series is intended to last 60 episodes over six seasons , with 10 one-hour episodes per season , covering the Queen 's entire life , and with new actors being cast every two seasons . Claire Foy portrays the Queen in the first two seasons , alongside Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret . Filming for the series takes place at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood , Hertfordshire , with location shooting at various locations throughout the United Kingdom .   The entire first season was released on Netflix November 4 , 2016 . Its reception was overwhelmingly positive , with critics praising cast performances , direction , writing , cinematography , production values , and the relatively accurate historical accounts of Queen Elizabeth 's reign . Significant praise was directed towards the performances of Foy in the leading role and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill , and Foy received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress and Lithgow the Best Actor at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards , among other accolades , including at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and the 7th Critics ' Choice Television Awards .