Recap / The Crown S 1 E 4 Act Of God

The Prime Minister needs to be given a chance. Even if it's only to hang himself. Let's see how the old fool responds.

When dense smog cripples London for days and creates a serious health hazard, Winston Churchill's inaction leaves him vulnerable to his political enemies. Elizabeth learns a lesson about the monarch not getting involved in politics, and Philip learns to fly.

This episode contains examples of:

• Artistic Licence – History: A few.
  • At the beginning of the episode, Philip notes that he holds the honorary rank of Marshal of the Royal Air Force (the RAF's most senior rank, equivalent to the Army rank of Field Marshal). However, this episode is set in December 1952, and he wasn't appointed to that rank until January 1953 ^note  granted, he could be trying to get his pilot's wings before getting the rank, but the dialogue clearly states that he already holds the rank .
  • Churchill changes his mind about reacting to the Great Smog after his young secretary Venetia Scott dies as a result of getting hit by a bus during it. Venetia was invented for the show. Instead, Churchill's administration reacted slowly simply because it was ill-equipped for this then-unprecedented problem (poor air quality had been a part of London life for as long as Londoners had been burning coal, but the Great Smog of December 1952 was many times worse than anything the city had ever experienced before, and is nowadays reckoned to have been the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom).
  • Clement Atlee did not actually move to trigger a vote of no confidence during the Great Smog.
  • In Real Life, London's above-ground public transport services all ceased during the Great Smog, for obvious reasons.
• Bait-and-Switch: The first half of the episode seems to be leading up to Venetia's flatmate falling victim of the smog due to her worsening wheezing cough - in fact, it is Venetia who ends up dying by the end of the episode.
• Britain Is Only London: The Great Smog only affected London. This trope is somewhat subverted, though, as we do cut to Broadlands (Lord Mountbatten's estate in Hampshire), where the weather's fine.
• …But I Play One on TV: An in-universe example with Philip, who cites an honorary senior RAF rank he's been given as his motivation for learning how to fly.
  Peter Townsend: Chocks are in position. Switches are off. You sure about this, sir?
  Philip: When I got married, my in-laws made me a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. As a result, I'm the most senior airman in the country, and I can't bloody well fly. So yes, I'm sure.
  Peter Townsend: Right-ho.
• Call-Back: Lascelles informs the Queen that this isn't the first time someone in Churchill's Cabinet has approached the monarch to get their help in deposing the Prime Minister.
• Critical Hesitation Blunder: Atlee delays calling for a vote of no confidence to make it clear that Churchill can't handle the crisis. Unfortunately just when he's on the verge of doing so, Churchill does rally and start providing decisive leadership.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Philip, which explains the flying lessons. Meanwhile, Venetia reads Winston Churchill's memoirs and is inspired to make her own mark on the world. Sadly, she does this as a result of her own tragic death, which inspires Churchill to call for a public inquiry into the cause of the Great Smog, which eventually leads to the Clean Air Act of 1956.
• Determinator: After walking her sick flatmate through the Great Smog to the hospital, Venetia tells the sceptical doctor she can get the Prime Minister to supply more money. After he mocks her, she immediately sets off to do just that, with tragic results.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Lord Salisbury ^note  Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, fifth Marquess of Salisbury, grandson of the Victorian Prime Minister. Very much Truth in Television, as is the fact that he was invariably known by his nickname, "Bobbety". Some of the lines he gets may indicate that his rhotacism is being played for laughs.
  Lord Salisbury: Well, I'm glad that the Pwime Minister finds time for levity. Perhaps I should wemind him exactly how sewious the situation has now become. This morning, a suburban twain collided with a gang of wailway workmen, killing sevewal and injuwing a gweat many more.
• Fog of Doom: This episode is set during the Great Smog of 1952 — in which a period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants (mostly arising from the use of coal in power stations and domestic fireplaces) to form a thick layer of smog (smoky fog) over London. Thousands of people died as a direct result (as seen with the scenes in the hospital which is overwhelmed), it resulted in measures to reduce air pollution, most notably (as mentioned in the closing caption) the Clean Air Act of 1956.
• Glory Days: Venetia is up most of the night reading Churchill's book about his younger days and when she starts enthusing about how much it inspired her, Churchill can only quietly beg her to stop, aware that he's not that man any more.
• Graceful Loser: At the end, Churchill has a good laugh with his wife over the way Elizabeth pivoted when the smog cleared, changing a planned admonition into a request for advice on foreign prime ministers, which threw him sufficiently that he agreed not to oppose Philip's flying lessons.
• Heaven Above: The episode focuses on Elizabeth's lack of clarity on the relationship between the monarchy and God, a theme that is visualized by the Great Smog that blocks out the London sky for most of the episode.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management:
  • Churchill buries the report on the Donora smog and insists the country keep burning coal to keep up the facade of economic recovery in a country still bankrupt from the War. He then fails to address the situation because what can you do about the weather, after all?
  • The meteorology department sends a message to the Prime Minister purely to cover their own backside, well aware that he'll never bother to read it. A conscientious public servant decides to blow the whistle to the Leader of the Opposition, but Atlee also delays taking action.
• Humble Hero: When Philip asks Peter Townsend how many planes he shot down during the War, he pauses before saying "one or two". In actual fact, Townsend — considered to have been one of the most capable squadron leaders in the Battle of Britain — was credited with nine enemy aircraft shot down, two shared, two 'probables' and four damaged. He was awarded the DSO and the DFC and bar.
• Hypocrite: Queen Mary, for her disdain for Phillip's family ("a royal family of carpetbaggers and parvenus, that goes back what? Ninety years?"). Mary's own father was a German duke from a morganatic line (similar to the Mountbattens), and her own royal in-laws were hesitant about letting her marry the heir to the throne for the same reason, although Queen Victoria thought that she had the right character for being a future queen consort. Furthermore, as a member of the House of Glücksburg, Philip's lineage can be traced back to the Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard, who conquered England in 1013, before William the Conqueror was even born.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Churchill visits the hospital where Venetia is in the morgue and sees firsthand the chaos there. He calls a press conference in the hospital itself, promising a public enquiry and extra resources, causing the newspapers to praise him for his decisive leadership and for being the only politician willing to visit a hospital during the crisis.
• Manly Tears: Churchill fights them back when he sees Venetia's body in the hospital morgue.
• Mr. Exposition: Clement Atlee's meeting with Thurman, a civil servant at 10 Downing Street annoyed by Churchill's inaction, serves to explain to the viewer why the weather report is Serious Business.
• Queen Exposition: Provided by the redoubtable Queen Mary, for the benefit of her nurse — and, by extension, the viewer.
  Nurse: The Queen is here, Your Majesty.
  Queen Mary: Could you be more specific?
  Nurse: Ma'am?
  Queen Mary: Which queen?
  Nurse: Queen Elizabeth, ma'am.
  Queen Mary: Which one? There are two.
  Nurse: The young one.
  Queen Mary: Oh, the Queen.
  Nurse: I thought you was all queens. They gave me a sheet.
  Queen Mary: We are. I was the Queen so long as my husband the King was alive, but since he died, I am no longer the Queen, I am simply "Queen Mary". My late son's widow was also the Queen, but upon the death of her husband, she became "Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother". Her daughter, "Queen Elizabeth", is now Queen, so she is...
  Nurse: The Queen.
  Queen Mary: Bravo.
  Nurse: Nurses and nuns have the same problem. We're all called "Sister".
  Queen Mary: So you are.
  Nurse: Well, she's outside. The Queen.
  Queen Mary: Then let her in, Sister.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Lascelles might be a strict traditionalist, but he makes it clear that Queen Elizabeth is not bound by her father's decision to refuse to admonish or dismiss the Prime Minister when the circumstances are different.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Discussed by the Queen and Queen Mary, who counsels her grand-daughter against becoming a Politically-Active Princess.
  Queen Elizabeth II: It doesn't feel right, as Head of State, to do nothing.
  Queen Mary: It is exactly right.
  Queen Elizabeth II: Is it? But surely doing nothing is no job at all?
  Queen Mary: To do nothing is the hardest job of all. And it will take every ounce of energy that you have. To be impartial is not natural, not human. People will always want you to smile or agree or frown. And the minute you do, you will have declared a position. A point of view. And that is the one thing as sovereign that you are not entitled to do. The less you do, the less you say or agree or smile...
  Queen Elizabeth II: Or think? Or feel? Or breathe? Or exist?
  Queen Mary: The better.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Venetia. The sudden death of such a true-hearted, impressive young woman is the jolt it takes to compel Churchill to call a public inquiry into the Great Smog and give extra resources to the hospitals.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Annoyed by the government's inaction, Thurman goes to opposition leader Clement Atlee with sensitive information that could be used to call a vote of no confidence, although Atlee refuses to use it.
• Skewed Priorities: Winston Churchill's insistence on having the Cabinet discuss the Duke of Edinburgh's flying lessons as opposed to the smog that's wreaking havoc in London is shown as a somewhat extreme example of this; it prompts Lord Salisbury (a junior cabinet minister) to get Lord Mountbatten to approach the Queen with concerns about Churchill's abilities.
• Talk About the Weather: Churchill wants to avoid this, even though the smog is becoming a serious issue.
  Winston Churchill: Sometimes we have sunshine. Too much sunshine, and they call it a drought. Then we have rain. Too much rain, and they call it a deluge and find a way to blame us for that too. It's an act of God, Bobbety. It's weather! And for better or for worse, we get a great deal of it on this island.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The fate of Venetia's housemate, last seen being admitted to hospital with a very bad cough thanks to the smog, is not known.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Queen Mary is well aware of this.
  Doctor: The air's a little stuffy, ma'am. It might help to open the window a crack?
  Queen Mary: Not while they're rehearsing.
  Doctor: What are they rehearsing?
  Queen Mary: My funeral.