WHEN HE WAS asked to join the new series of The Crown, Timothy Dalton didn’t hesitate to say yes, not least because the invitation came from none other than Lesley Manville. “I got a message from her saying she was playing Princess Margaret, would I come and play Peter Townsend?” Dalton relates. “I thought that was such a wonderful thing for her to do so of course I said yes. I also think it’s terrific television, beautifully made the way we used to make TV 20 years ago.”
Townsend, played in the first series by Ben Miles, was the former RAF Group Captain and equerry to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. He had an affair with the latter’s younger sister until she ended
