Netflix has confirmed that it will make an epic royal drama series called The Crown, written by Peter Morgan. The man behind the Oscar winning The Queen will team up with Billy Elliot's Stephen Daldry for a new on-demand series inspired by the recent West End hit The Audience. 

Peter MorganPeter Morgan is writing The Crown for Netflix

Netflix, which is betting big on original drama as it continues to stave off competitors, says the drama will "tell the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world - Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street - and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century".

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Each series will be dedicated to a decade of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, with the first season clocking in at 10 episodes. 

According to unconfirmed reports in the U.S, the actress Claire Foy (Little Dorritt, Upstairs Downstairs) has been approached to play the young Elizabeth II.

Claire FoyClaire Foy is rumored to be playing the young Queen Elizabeth II

Morgan said: "The Crown is not only about the royal family but about an empire in decline, a world in disarray and the dawn of a new era.  I am beyond thrilled to be reunited with partners from film, theatre and television for this epic project and delighted to be working for the first time with Netflix."

The first series will focus on the early part of Elizabeth II's reign as a "25-year-old princess faced with the daunting prospect of leading the most famous monarchy in the world while forging a relationship with the domineering, war-hardened prime minister Winston Churchill".

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Cindy Holland, vice president of original content at Netflix, said: "The Crown is storytelling that lives somewhere between television and cinema from Britain's foremost chroniclers of modern politics, class and society."

Andy Harries, chief executive of producer Left Bank Pictures, said: "Queen Elizabeth II has reigned throughout a period of unprecedented cultural and political change and her influence as monarch has been universal.

"Peter is a writer at the height of his powers and Stephen Daldry is one of the most entertaining and original film directors in the world. The series will be hugely ambitious and surprising, and perfectly captures the changes and complexities of a postwar world."