Peter Morgan

Dame Judi Dench is the latest high-profile figure to call for a disclaimer to be added to The Crown to make clear the series is not necessarily true.

The Actress said Netflix " seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism".

Dame Judi said there was a risk that " a significant number of viewers" would take its events as historical truth.

Netflix has defended The Royal series, previously saying it is " presented as a drama based on historical events".

The Oscar-winning star's comments, in, follow about the content of The Crown 's fifth series, which will depict the Royal Family in the 1990s.

Sir John said a scene that is said to include a conversation between him and Prince Charles , as he was then, about The Queen abdicating, was " a barrel-load of malicious nonsense".

In her letter, Dame Judi wrote: " Sir John Major is not alone in his concerns that the latest series of The Crown will present an inaccurate and hurtful account of history.

" Indeed, 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.

" While many will recognise The Crown for The Brilliant but fictionalised account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true. "

Dame Judi previously played Queen Victoria in the 2017 Historical Drama Victoria & Abdul.

The Actress is close to King Charles and the Queen Consort . In 2020, Dame Judi appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live on and the pair were previously together.

Dame Judi said the suggestions expected to be made in the new series were " cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent" especially coming so soon after the death of The Queen .

She continued: " 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 'fictionalised drama', the programme-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 its reputation in The Eyes of its British subscribers. "

For the forthcoming series of the lavish regal drama, Dominic West will star as Charles, while Elizabeth Debicki will play Diana and Imelda Staunton The Queen .

A Netflix spokeswoman previously said: " The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events.

" 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. "

The programme's creator, Peter Morgan , also defended the forthcoming series in, published This Week .

" I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the Royal Family , and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period, " He Said .

" But that doesn't mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or The Monarchy . The Show certainly isn't. "

The Debate about a possible disclaimer comes around frequently. When The Last series was released in 2020, then culture secretary Oliver Dowden said younger viewers " may mistake fiction for fact".

Series five of The Crown will launch on 9 November .

Source of news: bbc.com