Peter Morgan made his name with The Queen in 2006, his account of the Royal family’s reaction to the death of Princess Diana. He was Oscar nominated and then became Her Majesty’s unofficial small-screen biographer with The Crown. In the show’s final season, he revisits his original story. Blair is largely absent. The conversation persuading the Queen that the nation is mutinous and she needs to demonstrate she cares is delivered by Dominic West’s Charles. Everything is bleaker and darker. William and Harry grieve. Mohammed al-Fayed buries his son, wailing in despair. Binge watching both versions is strangely depressing. This is an altogether more hopeless version of the story. Whether Morgan is reflecting his own changing perspective on the Windsors, channelling our gloomy times or ending what will be the story of Elizabeth II’s reign for hundreds of millions with an intimate attempt at a tribute feels uncertain.
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Flip!, Soho Theatre
An immaculately timed two-hander comedy about influencers, fame and the perils of selling out to AI. Racheal Ofori’s script moves from skits mocking TikTok to a dark unpicking of corporate and personal greed. Leah St Luce and Jadesola Odunjo are tight, funny and insanely watchable.