My grandparents lived in London at the time.

I did watch that episode of the Crown and asked about it.

"Which one?" Was the reply.

The problem is that The Crown makes it seem like a one-off, whereas it was the most long-lasting of something that was a pretty normal part of life at the time. For example, On the railways they have "detonators"- explosive caps you lay on the rails to go off when a train is approaching a signal at red when you can't see it. The smogs were such a problem the railways had a fog timetable and mechanical equipment to place the detonators at each signal rather than needing men stood by each one. You can still see fog repeaters on the underground but they're not needed the same way now, when you couldn't see the top of the posts at the bottom the repeaters were essential.

My grandmother would go to work on "the jazz" service into Liverpool St. When she came home she listened for the tap of a blind man's cane at the station. There was a home for them at the top of her street so she would ask the blind man to walk her home as you'd struggle to see your feet in the worst smogs. To the blind it was just another day! She also remembered housewives putting tealight candles on the front walls (railings all removed during the war) to try and help people see.

My grandfather remembered trying to keep it out of the house was the worst, and needing to keep lights on all day.

The mitigations of course meant more burning coal and other fuels so it made it worse but there weren't a lot of options. People knew it was dangerous but they also knew they needed heat, light and transport. All of which used coal. The switch to smokeless fuels, natural gas, non-coal electricity generation and so on all helped bring the old pea-soupers to an end.