The popular British royal family drama is returning with an ominous trailer for its penultimate season. And finally, Netflix has acknowledged that the upcoming season of The Crown is 'fictional' after months of resistance due to pressure from celebrities like Dame Judi Dench.
The actor claims that the creators of the program conflate historical accuracy with cheap sensationalism, harming the monarchy.
Netflix has finally included a disclaimer to its marketing for its popular series, The Crown, after years of criticism over the hazy border between fiction and fact. The move by the streaming juggernaut follows recent pressure from people like Dame Judi Dench, and it appears to be a retreat.
Netflix has added a disclaimer to the trailer for the upcoming series on its YouTube page after previously saying it had 'no plans' to do so. The disclaimer reads: “This fictional dramatization, inspired by true events, depicts the narrative of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”
The official Twitter account for The Crown appears to have been updated with the same disclaimer in addition to the one on Youtube. In the teaser for the show, which was released on YouTube on October 20, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana sits down for her controversial 1995 Panorama interview with former BBC journalist Martin Bashir and declares, 'I won't go quietly.'
However, the recently released Netflix series, which debuted on November 9, has faced criticism for consistently declining to contain a disclaimer. In addition to supporting the calls for the firm to include a disclaimer, actress Dame Judi Dench, who played Queen Victoria and Elizabeth I in the 2017 historical drama Victoria & Abdul and in the 1997 film Mrs. Brown, called the program 'cruelly unjust.'
The closer the story gets to the present, the more Dench said in a letter to the Times that the Netflix sensation 'seems eager to breach the borders beyond historical fact and vulgar sensationalism.'
She continues by voicing her worry that 'a sizable proportion of viewers, particularly those from abroad, may consider its version of history as being entirely true.”
Despite officially saying this week that The Crown has always been a 'fictionalized drama,' the show's creators have defied requests to include a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode. It's time for Netflix to take a second look.
In addition, Dench makes note of impending fifth series events, several of which have already faced criticism: 'Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series, for example, that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, or once suggested his mother's parenting was so inadequate that she might have deserved a jail sentence, this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.'
Former prime minister Sir John Major called a scene that purportedly depicts a plot to overthrow Elizabeth II 'a barrel-load of vicious nonsense' in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
In a statement issued by Major's office, it was said that Sir John had not assisted The Crown in any way. Additionally, he has never been asked by them to fact-check any of the screenplay material for 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 representative for The Crown responded to Major's remarks by saying, 'The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.”
“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.”
The fifth season of The Crown has a trailer from Netflix that depicts the monarchy in disarray and gives away Princess Diana's demise.
Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanarajah) claims in the trailer that 'the royal family is in genuine crisis'. Whereas Diana who is played by Elizabeth Debicki utters, “People will never understand how it’s really been for me; I never stood a chance,” amid shots of the Princess of Wales speeding recklessly in a car and laying inert in a pool.
The sixth and last season of the Emmy-winning drama, which is now in production, will feature Diana's tragic death rather than being dramatized in the future season. (sources have noted her fatal car crash will not be explicitly shown)
Noted below is the official Netflix description of The Crown Season 5.
“With the new decade in its stride, the Royal Family are presented with possibly their biggest challenge to date; as the public openly question their role in ’90s Britain. As Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) approaches the 40th anniversary of her accession, she reflects on a reign that has encompassed nine prime ministers, the advent of mass television, and the twilight of the British Empire. Yet new challenges are on the horizon. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the transfer of sovereignty in Hong Kong signals a seismic shift in the international order, presenting both obstacles and opportunities. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing closer to home. Prince Charles (Dominic West) pressures his mother to allow him to divorce Diana (Debicki), presenting a constitutional crisis of the monarchy. Rumors circulate as husband and wife are seen to live increasingly separate lives and, as media scrutiny intensifies, Diana decides to take control of her own narrative, breaking with family protocol to publish a book that undermines public support for Charles and exposes the cracks in the House of Windsor. Tensions are set to rise further, as Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw) arrives on the scene. Driven by his desire for acceptance of the highest order, he harnesses his self-made wealth and power to try and earn him and his son Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) a seat at the royal table.”
What are your thoughts on “The Crown” controversy? Is it really just a work of fiction, or does it depict a story that’s true to history? Let us know in the comments below!