Outraged critics have demanded that Netflix clearly label The Crown as “fiction” amid claims that the show’s inaccurate storylines could irreversibly damage the monarchy.
BBC journalist Andrew Marr has joined a string of angry viewers in arguing that “many key scenes never happened or are a distortion of the truth” and that the show should include a “disclaimer” about its accuracy, the Daily Mail reports.
As fans tune in for the first episode of the fourth series, released on Sunday, Marr told The Sun that if the creators announced “this is drama, it’s fiction, it’s entertainment”, The Crown would be “brilliant”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“But when you start to say, ‘this is the truth about these people’s lives’, it’s grossly unfair and really quite sadistic,” he argued, adding: “If I was one of the Royal Family, I would be utterly, utterly horrified.”
Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, has also criticised the hit drama. Appearing on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday, Spencer insisted that “you can hang it on fact, but the bits in between are not fact”.
“The worry for me is that people see a program like that and they forget that it is fiction,” added the earl, who has recently made headlines by demanding an investigation into his sister’s infamous 1995 interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir.
“They assume, especially foreigners, I find Americans tell me they have watched The Crown as if they have taken a history lesson. Well, they haven’t.”
The portrayal of Prince Charles, played by Josh O'Connor, has come under particular scrutiny. Former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter told Times Radio that the series has “made the Prince of Wales a villain. He’s not a villain. He never has been a villain.”
“Another representation that has come under scrutiny is that of the Queen’s mothering skills,” Tatler says. Scenes in which the monarch, played by Olivia Colman, is shown to know nothing about her children’s interests have been criticised for suggesting she “lacks a degree of maternal involvement”, the magazine continues.
The creator of the multi-award winning show, Peter Morgan, has hit back against the complaints of historical inaccuracy, saying that “you sometimes have to forsake accuracy, but you must never forsake truth”.
Referring to an invented scene in which Princes Charles is criticised by Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance) for failing to find a wife, Morgan last week told the official The Crown podcast: “In my own head, I thought that would have even greater impact on Charles if it were to come post-mortem, as it were.
“I think everything what’s in that letter that Mountbatten writes to Charles is what I really believe, based one everything I’ve read and people I’ve spoken to, that represents his view.”
-
‘Unsentimental tough-minded voters regard Starmer as an insult’Instant Opinion Your digest of analysis from the British and international press
-
‘More tears and tantrums on Twitter are guaranteed’Instant Opinion Your digest of analysis from the British and international press
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
