This is how we cover a TV show when we know it will cause a buzz

Forward planning is fairly predictable when it comes to events such as the Oscars – it’s all about who is going to win, and how do we watch it on the night. But we also prep months in advance for high-prestige TV shows.

For the new season of The Crown, we carried explainer pieces on all the characters, fact-versus-fiction pieces, and episode guides – from “tampongate” to Diana’s Panorama interview, along with the biggest talking points, before it premiered on Netflix last week.

Our Saturday Interview with Lesley Manville, who plays Princess Margaret, was in the pipeline six months before it ran last weekend – as was the profile interview we got with Anna Chlumsky, who plays Vivian Kent, the fictional journalist who decides to pursue a story on the fake German heiress Anna Delvey, in the Netflix hit Inventing Anna.

We’ve applied the same level of planning in respect of other big TV shows lately, such as Sky Atlantic’s second series of The White Lotus and HBO’s House of the Dragon, the new prequel to Game of Thrones.

When we know a TV show is going to create a lot of buzz, we find numerous ways to write about it. We get hold of screeners in advance and plan comment pieces – for example, on how Aubrey Plaza’s Harper is the most mesmerising guest in the new season of The White Lotus.

Sometimes things don’t pan out. Critical reaction to the new Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime wasn’t as rapturous as anticipated. We don’t have a crystal ball – but what we aim to do is find interesting angles, and clinch profile interviews months in advance.

By the time a big TV show hits our screens – well, we all know about it. We wrote episode recaps for season five of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale before it was even out in the UK. I’m glad I wasn’t tempted to read them. There’s nothing like waiting for the next episode to drop on Channel 4 – roll on Sunday for episode five.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer