How can one watch an uncensored version of The Crown?

[skip fox]

Last edited Thu Mar 25, 2021, 12:23 AM - Edit history (1)

I had a friend tell me about season 2, episode 4, but when I saw it there were obvious gaps. The photographer tells Margaret to get dressed, but in the version I saw she is already dressed. The Duke and the Queen see a photograph of her nude but that was not on camera.


This is terribly unsettling to see an work of art "fixed" for my sensibilities. Is there a way to see the original? Is there a Netflix I can trust?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Are you completely certain there really are two different versions of that show?

[skip fox]

2. A friend and fellow writer described one incident in particular.

And it did not appear.

My friend is a novelist (as I am) and totally reliable.

[frazzled]

3. Your friend is wrong

That didn’t happen. Armstrong-Jones pulls down the shoulders of her dress and then asks her if she misses her former paramour. As she answers, he snaps the portrait shot. When the queen sees the photo she’s unhappy, because the bare shoulder shot makes her look like she was naked.

[skip fox]

4. My friend is not wrong.

Those incidents are just what I noticed that did not track with he version she (a well-known novelist) saw.

Armstrong-Jones goes upstairs, stamps about and then makes love to Margaret. The scene is so raw, she (my friend) wondered if it would soon be censored. It was.

The photo the Queen and Duke see, although far from explicit is more than "straps down."

I am also a writer (not famous like my friend) and am greatly offended.

[frazzled]

5. It was not in the originally aired version

Only suggested. It was written in the script, but not used. And the photograph seen by the queen and published was never nude, just bare shouldered. Why are you upset about this?

The second season shows Margaret, played by Vanessa Kirby, mending her broken heart with a bad boy by Buckingham Palace standards: Antony Armstrong-Jones (played by Matthew Goode). One particularly steamy sequence features the princess meeting the photographer at his private studio for a portrait session/seduction. And in a new interview, Kirby reveals that The Crown creator Peter Morgan initially scripted a love scene for the duo.

“There was originally a sex scene between Margaret and Antony that was supposed to be really important for her to finally meet her man, come together with him,” Kirby recently told reporters. “It wasn’t raunchy at all in the end, it was respectful.”

Alas, The Crown’s powers-that-be decided that it might be uncouth to show royals between the bedsheets.

“We had a big debate on whether to show royal boob or not,” Kirby revealed. “We decided they don’t want to see royal boob, thank God.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/the-crown-princess-margaret-sex-scene

[skip fox]

6. My point is that the scene was filmed and has since been removed.

My friend didn't read the script but saw that scene and even said to me that she was surprised that it was in there. She even implied that it might be removed. I never thought they would do it, but they did.

Despite Vanity Fair's reporting.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

7. Did your friend see a screener?

It may have been shot and in early edits, but was ultimately removed by the director before release.

[skip fox]

8. My friend lives in Portownsend, WA which has a great film festival but

she said she saw it on Newflix. I don't think series like this would be in a festival anyway, but I could be wrong.

[frazzled]

9. Well then, she must have had special access before the final cut

She got to see an early rough cut? There are not two final versions. It was not ever shown that way when it originally aired.

And I ask again, why do you care? You wanted a nude sex scene? Use your imagination. This was not Bridgerton, and it’s not even an issue. Lots of stuff ends up on the cutting room floor.

[skip fox]

10. I'm 74 years old and have seen plenty of sex scenes.

I care because of censors tinkering with (and ruining) an artist's (in this case Peter Morgan's) vision.

I've devoted my life to art, not sex scenes.

Perhaps one of her friends sent her an earlier version.

But how explain Armstrong telling Margaret (from upstairs--second trip in scene) to get dressed before they go to his basement darkroom? Only her straps are down. Surely raising one's straps is not like getting dressed? An obvious flaw which insulted me in a show I love and which is remarkable in so many ways.