Dame Judi Dench is not a fan of “The Crown” on Netflix, and she issued an open letter criticizing the series for its “cruelly unjust” portrayal of the British royal family.
Dench said in a letter to “The Times UK” that “no one is a bigger believer in artistic freedom than I am,” but that “this cannot continue unquestioned.”
According to aceshowbiz.com, she stated, “The closer the drama goes to the present, the more it seems eager to cross the lines between historical authenticity and vulgar sensationalism.”
The actress, who portrayed Queen Victoria in 1997’s “Mrs. Brown” and 2017’s “Victoria & Abdul” and Queen Elizabeth in 1998’s “Elizabeth,” has died “Shakespeare in Love”, also wrote that “while many will recognize ‘The Crown’ for the brilliant but fictionalized account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, will take its version of history as entirely accurate.”
View video:
“Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series – that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, for example, or that he once suggested his mother’s parenting was so inadequate that she may have deserved a prison sentence – this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent,” Dench said.
She stated, “Despite this week’s public declaration that ‘The Crown’ has always been a ‘fictionalized drama,’ the producers have rejected calls for a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode.”
“The moment has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the benefit of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a measure of respect to a monarch who served her people for 70 years, and to maintain their own reputation in the eyes of their British consumers.”
Prior to this, UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden encouraged Netflix to include a disclaimer to the fictional series. At the time, the show was running its fourth season.
“As with other television productions, Netflix should make it abundantly apparent from the outset that this is a work of fiction,” Dowden stated in 2020.
Without this information, I fear that a generation of viewers who did not experience these events may mistake fiction for fact.
In response, Netflix issued a statement in which the streaming giant stated that it will not add the disclaimer.
“We have always portrayed ‘The Crown’ as a drama, and we are confident that our audience is aware that it is a work of fiction loosely inspired by actual events.
“As a result, we have no plans to add a disclaimer and see no reason to do so “Netflix said.