Is Netflix’s The Crown fact or fiction?

The latest series of The Crown has arrived on Netflix. To its predictable advantage, the show has already had the advance-publicity of raised voices. Ex-PM Sir John Major, commenting on a particular scene in the series between him and the then-Prince Charles, said it was a ‘barrel load of nonsense’ and would be ‘profoundly hurtful to a family who are still grieving…’ Dame Judi Dench, in an open letter to the Times, claimed The Crown presented ‘an inaccurate and hurtful account of history’ and urged its creators (successfully) to add a disclaimer admitting the drama was ‘fictionalised.’ Now Sir Tony Blair has joined the chorus of criticism, letting it be known he considers aspects of the series ‘complete and utter rubbish.’

With real-life historical drama – or drama-documentary as it’s more snappily known – such rancour is all in a day’s work. When filmmakers set out to make drama from real events, said TV critic Howard Rosenberg, ‘controversy is bound to follow.’