Netflix has finally stepped up to defend The Crown after Sir John Major’s criticism of the show’s forthcoming season.
However, the former British prime minister (PM) had labeled season five’s plotline as “a barrel-load of malicious nonsense”.
His office reached out to the Daily Mail on Sunday to convince it to boycott The Crown as the fifth season contains a scene that is said to include a conversation between the former leader of the Conservative Party and Prince Charles about ousting Queen Elizabeth II.
The statement read:
Sir John has not co-operated in any way with The Crown. Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series. As you will know, discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and – for Sir John – will always remain so. But not one of the scenes you depict are accurate in any way whatsoever. They are fiction, pure and simple.
A spokesperson for The Crown addressed the former PM’s remarks, saying that the show has always promoted itself as a fictional dramatization based on historical events and said,
Series five is a fictional dramatization, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinized and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.
Despite the public statement, the series continues to receive backlash from prominent British public figures. Journalist and TV presenter Jonathan Dimbleby also called the show’s plot “nonsense on stilts”.
Veteran British actress Dame Judi Dench wrote an open letter to The Times UK, calling Netflix’s The Crown “cruelly unjust” in its depiction of the Royal Family. She stated that she supports artistic freedom and requested Netflix to add a disclaimer to each episode.
Her letter read: “The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism. Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series — that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, for example, or once suggested his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence — this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent”.
She added,
No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged. Despite this week stating publicly that ‘The Crown’ has always been a ‘fictionalized drama,’ the program makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode. The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve their own reputation in the eyes of their British subscribers.
Netflix Refuses to Add Disclaimer to The Crown
Netflix responded to Dame Judy Dench’s request, refusing to add a disclaimer.
A spokesperson for the streaming giant stated: “We have always presented The Crown as a drama – and we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events”.
It further clarified,
As a result we have no plans — and see no need — to add a disclaimer.
The latest season of The Crown is set in the 1990s and has an all-new cast. Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana opposite Dominic West (Prince Charles). Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed will make his Netflix debut as Dr. Hasnat as well.
Imelda Staunton, who everyone remembers as Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter, will take on the role of Queen Elizabeth II, and Game of Thrones actor, Jonathan Pryce, will essay the role of Prince Philip.
The fifth season will focus on the Royal Family’s tumultuous time period in which Prince Charles and Princess Diana parted ways, and will be premiered on 9 November 2022.
