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The Crown's imagined dramatization of real-life royal events is "integral to understanding the facts," with streaming giant Netflix under pressure to deliver on fans' "demand" to cover the most spoken about royal headlines—the good and the bad—a prominent entertainment expert has told Newsweek.
The hit series dramatizing the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II and her family has come under criticism in the U.K. ahead of the highly anticipated release of its fifth season.
The Crown's latest installment will debut on Netflix on November 9 and will cover the turbulent royal events of the 1990s, including the public breakdown in the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the 1992 fire at Windsor Castle and Diana's bombshell 1995 BBC Panorama interview.
After preliminary screenings were shown to journalists, a number of calls for the series to display a disclaimer before each episode resurfaced. There have been similar calls anticipating each season, with Netflix repeatedly stating that the series has always been billed as a drama and therefore doesn't need to state it.
Last week Dame Judi Dench added her voice to this call for the streaming giant to make clear the series is not wholly factual, echoing others who raised concerns that American audiences may interpret the show as true to life.
When the trailer for Season 5 was released on Thursday, a short disclaimer was added to marketing material reading: "Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign."
Whether this disclaimer will be taken from the marketing material and added to the streaming episodes is yet unknown.
"The Crown has proved to be a hugely successful TV series by streaming service Netflix who have finally added a disclaimer about 'historical accuracy' to the Season 5 trailer, citing 'inspired by real events' to cover any potential backlash regarding the sensitivity and coverage," Mark Boardman, entertainment expert and founder of MarkMeets, told Newsweek.
"The show is filed under fiction, and we know how dramatized these shows can be with avid viewers still finding the line between fact and fiction somewhat blurred," he continued.
"In my opinion as someone who has met and seen the royals up-close on a number of occasions in a press capacity, I feel a number of scenes in the depiction of the British royal family are unnecessary (affairs and private meetings), but they are integral to understanding the facts and the story, and ultimately what us viewers expect to see is a fair reflection of events."
It is not known where in the timeline of the 1990s Season 5 of The Crown will end, but trailer scenes showing Princess Diana's BBC Panorama interview suggest it will go up to November 1995, if not further.
The production of the sixth season is currently in progress, with actress Elizabeth Debicki seen in Barcelona, Spain, filming the scenes depicting Diana's last days before her untimely death at the age of 36 in a high-speed Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
Scenes depicting the princess' funeral have also been shot with actors playing a young Prince William and Prince Harry walking behind their mother's coffin. This has sparked another wave of backlash against the production, with calls for sensitivity surrounding the depiction of the princess' death reigniting.
Though for many, the depiction of scenes surrounding the death of the princess will prove uncomfortable if not distressing, including for her two sons Princes William and Harry, it would be unreasonable to expect Netflix to not cover them in The Crown, Boardman says.
"There is fan demand to cover the most spoken about events surrounding the royal family from affairs, and the need to recreate scenes including Diana's death which will no doubt be incredibly hard for William and Harry following her passing.
"Netflix could not shy away from covering such an integral part of the story and would have ensured that everything must be done to ensure filming is carried out with guided precision," he continued. "Princess Diana was such a loved and cherished person in the hearts of the British public, and to this day many conspiracies still exist. Sensationalism sells!"
This is not the first time that The Crown writer and creator Peter Morgan has dealt with the sensitivities around the death of Princess Diana on screen. He also wrote the 2006 Oscar winning movie The Queen which focused on the week between the death of the princess and her funeral, a period where the royal family faced a rift with the British public.
"Morgan has already proved himself covering the subject delicately in The Queen," Boardman comments.
"The latest series [of The Crown] will see him cover the subjects that matter to the people but guided with utmost respect and historical accuracy after much research on each scene.
"He no doubt would have held meetings with TV executives, spoken to colleagues and crew around the sensitive subjects taking on-board their opinions, but ultimately he has to meet expectations to both make it historically accurate as possible, whilst at the same time make a TV show."
Season 5 of The Crown is available to stream on Netflix from November 9.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more