On November 4th 2016, Netflix unleashed its £225 million drama series The Crown on the world and it soon became the streaming platform’s most-watched show. Fast-forward six years and this week sees the launch of the penultimate season – but when the trailer for season 5 first appeared, it provoked controversy rather than plaudits.
Dame Judi Dench wrote to The Times saying that The Crown was “an inaccurate and hurtful account of history. The closer the drama comes to our present times.” She added: “The more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.”
The series’s producers countered by adding a disclaimer to the season 5 trailer stating that The Crown is “inspired by real events” and that “this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign”.
We talk to the four principal season 5 actors – Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce – about their experiences of working on what is an undeniably well-written and superbly acted drama. You will have to make up your own minds on whether it’s more fact than fiction, and if it matters. Let us know what you think.
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Also in this week’s Radio Times:
• James Corden on being a huge star here and in the USA, but embracing failure
• Emily Blunt discusses her new drama The English as she fulfils her childhood ambition to star in a western
• Professor Hannah Fry uncovers the origins of modern inventions, from bank cards to electric cars
Visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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