Netflix release The Crown trailer with Matt Smith as Prince Philip

(Image credit: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock)

Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, ex Doctor Who star Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Canadian actor John Lithgow as Winston Churchill? Netflix is about to screen an epic royal drama like no other before it when The Crown premieres later this year.

Netflix has spent £100 million on the first series of 10 episodes, but it's just the beginning: The Crown will eventually consist of six series, each of which will cover a decade of Queen Elizabeth's life.

In the trailer, Princess Elizabeth is facing the prospect of becoming Queen amid a backdrop of political intrigue, expectation and conflict. Prince Philip, meanwhile is having difficulty prostrating himself to his wife after the Royal Wedding ...

Watch the trailer for The Crown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Q0bJ_zO7w

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.