'Netflix's The Crown should carry a warning citing it is fiction'

Is it purely fact? Is it purely fiction? How much of fiction is there in the facts? What is the percentage of fact in its fictionalised retelling of the Royals? Such questions continue to be posed to the makers of Netflix's popular series, The Crown, and the latest person to join the questioning brigade is UK's Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden. 

In an interview with The Daily Mail, Dowden said, “It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that.”

“Without this,” he added, “I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.” Dowden is proposing a “health warning” to accompany the series, which he accuses of doing lasting damage to the monarchy, including Prince Charles.

Some of the controversial aspects explored in the series include the timeline of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’ affair during his marriage to Diana, and his verbal abuse directed towards Diana.

Earlier, in an interview on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana warned Netflix viewers to watch the new season with a sceptical eye. He felt American audiences are taking the narratives of The Crown as fact.

“It would help The Crown an enormous amount if at the beginning of each episode it stated, ‘This isn’t true but is based around some real events’. Because then everyone would understand it’s drama for drama’s sake,” Spencer said.

In fact, actor Emma Corrin, who portrays Princess Diana in The Crown, told Harper’s BAZAAR, “The series that we’re in is fictionalised to a great extent.”