Ever since the debut of The Crown, there has been much criticism about the marketing of the Netflix hit.
Ahead of the fifth season premiere on November 9, the streaming service updated its trailer’s description on Youtube to read:
“Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”
The change comes days after Judi Dench hit out at Netflix in a letter to Times on Thursday.
Dench said the Netflix series from Peter Morgan “seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism” and that the series should air with a disclaimer because “a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true.”
The disclaimer should be added, “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 its reputation in the eyes of its British subscribers.”
“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.”
Former British Prime Minister John Major also released a statement about the show.
“Sir John has not cooperated in any way with The Crown,” the statement reads.
“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.”
Netflix also released a statement to Variety about how it views the series as a “fictional dramatisation.”
“The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events,” the statement reads.
“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
What are your thoughts on the change?
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
