Season four of Netflix‘s The Crown features an episode portraying Prince Charles and Princess Diana‘s 1983 tour of Australia.
But the cast and crew of the award-winning show did not travel Down Under to recreate some of the former couple’s most iconic moments.
Instead, they substituted locations around Spain for Australia, thanks to clever digital effects, The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.
How did they do it? The Crown’s Emma Corrin (pictured), who plays Princess Diana in the hit show, revealed how the hit Netflix series was able to recreat Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia – without ever travelling Down Under
The city of Malaga was used for Sydney, while the desert near the port city of Almería was used as the backdrop for their visit to Uluru.
Actress Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the hit show, told the publication that she and her co-star Josh O’Connor, who plays Prince Charles, would carefully study footage of the young couple’s trip to capture the essence.
‘We’d pitch up somewhere in Malaga to do a scene and the director would bring along a laptop and we’d watch their version, not to repeat what they had done, but to get a flavour of the environment,’ she said.
Clever tricks: Instead of travelling to Australia, the series substituted it for locations around Spain, thanks to clever digital effects. Pictured left is Emma Corrin in The Crown, and right is Princess Diana after visiting Freemantle Hospital, in Perth, in 1983
Recreating real life: The city of Malaga was used for Sydney, while the desert near the port city of Almería was used as the backdrop for their visit to Uluru. Pictured is Princess Diana and Prince Charles visiting Uluru in March 1983
‘I haven’t actually been to Australia, but you did feel you could be somewhere like that,’ she added.
The Netflix series, which was filmed from August 2019 to March 2020, also hired extras with Australian accents to help add to the Australian environment they constructed in Spain.
Meanwhile, Australian actor Richard Roxburgh was also recruited to star in the series, to play the then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
In character: Emma also said that she and her co-star Josh O’Connor (right), carefully studied footage of the young couple’s trip capture their essence
Just like Down Under: Emma said, ‘We’d pitch up somewhere in Malaga to do a scene and the director would bring along a laptop and we’d watch their version, not to repeat what they had done, but to get a flavour of the environment.’ Pictured is a still from the show
TV magic: Emma said, ‘I haven’t actually been to Australia, but you did feel you could be somewhere like that’
He admitted to the publication that it was a lot of work getting back into character after starring as the late Australian politician in the series Hawke back in 2010.
‘I guess you always just want to do due diligence with somebody who is so beloved and so deeply recognised by the Australian people,’ he said.
Emma is set to make her debut as the late Diana in the upcoming fourth series of The Crown, which will depict her tumultuous marriage to Prince Charles in the 1980s.
Due diligence: Australian actor Richard Roxburgh was also recruited to star in the series, to play the then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke. He admitted that it was a lot of work getting back into character, after starring as the late Australian politician in the series Hawke back in 2010
Screen star: Emma will make her debut as the late Diana in the upcoming fourth series of The Crown, which will depict her tumultuous marriage to Prince Charles in the 1980s
Emma recently told Town and Country magazine that she was stunned by Olivia Colman’s drastic change into the Queen, given she was so friendly and jovial on set.
She said: ‘Obviously, Olivia is the biggest ray of sunshine ever… She just went stone cold horrible. It was so hard to not take it personally.’
Emma added that she still doesn’t like being asked about the ‘iconic’ role as she fears it makes the late Diana ‘untouchable’.
‘I hate being asked what it’s like to play someone iconic. It makes her untouchable—the whole point was that she was touchable,’ she added.
In awe: Emma recently said she was stunned by Olivia Colman’s drastic change into the Queen, given she was so friendly and jovial on set. She said: ‘Obviously, Olivia is the biggest ray of sunshine ever… She just went stone cold horrible. It was so hard to not take it personally’
Emma was originally contacted to read as Diana alongside co-star Josh O’Connor in 2018, after he’d landed the role of Prince Charles, as The Crown bosses tried to find the right actress to play Camilla Parker-Bowles.
The star was not auditioning for the role of Diana, but her speech efforts impressed the team so much, she was offered the role eight months later.
The Crown’s fourth series will begin as the 1970s are drawing to a close, with the Royal Family preoccupied with safeguarding the line of succession by securing an appropriate bride for Prince Charles who is still unmarried at 30.
Season four of The Crown will be available to stream on Netflix from November 15th