UK government to call for health alert for “The Crown” episodes

• Oliver Dowden, the British secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, told the Daily Mail Saturday that he intends to ask Netflix to add a disclaimer before each episode of “The Crown” saying it is a ‘ work of fiction.
• “Without this, I fear that a generation of viewers who have not experienced these events may mistake fiction for fact,” Dowden told the Daily Mail.
• Dowden’s statement to the Daily Mail comes as the fourth season of “The Crown” has faced criticism from some royal experts and the public for the way it portrays historical events.
• Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in Season 4, recently said in an interview that she and the cast want to remind viewers that the series is rooted in history but is “fictional to a great extent.”
• Visit the Insider home page for more stories.

A British politician is planning to request that Netflix display a “health warning” at the beginning of each episode of “The Crown,” the historical drama TV series that depicts the royal family, according to the Daily Mail.

On Saturday, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden told the Daily Mail that he wants Netflix to add a disclaimer to “The Crown” tailored for audiences who have not experienced the events represented in the show.

“It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other television productions, Netflix should be very clear at first that’s just that,” Dowden told the Daily Mail. “Without this, I fear that a generation of viewers who have not experienced these events will mistake fiction for fact.”

Des Willie / Netflix; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

According to the Daily Mail, Dowden plans to “write to the streaming giant to formally request that they add what others have called a ‘health warning’ at the beginning of each episode.”

The fourth season of “The Crown”, which premiered on Netflix on November 15, follows the royal family from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, depicting events such as the Falklands War, the Prince’s public wedding. Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Princess Diana (Emma Corrin), and a seemingly strained relationship between then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and the Queen (Olivia Colman).

“The Crown” has faced criticism from some royal experts and audiences with ties to the show

The series, created by Peter Morgan, has been the subject of backlash from some historians and the public.

For example, episode nine of the show’s fourth season describes a fatal skiing accident that led to the death of British Army Major Hugh Lindsay. After the season aired, Sarah Horsley, Major Hugh Lindsay’s widow, told the Sunday Telegraph that the incident was a “private tragedy” and had previously asked the show’s producers not to adapt the disaster for television.

Australia’s national news network also dismissed how “The Crown” apparently took “creative license” when it portrayed an interview given by its former prime minister on the ABC network. In fact, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke was interviewed welcoming the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to the country in 1983 and did not actually say some of the inserted “The Crown” lines, such as referring to the Queen as “a pig. . “

Hulton Archive / Getty Images; Netflix

In another season 4 episode, “The Crown” tells the story of a man, Michael Fagan, who broke into the queen’s bedroom at Buckingham Palace, which actually happened – but the portrayal of the series showed a more carefree interaction between Fagan and the queen than in real life.

Hugo Vickers, historian and author of “The Crown Dissected”, previously told Insider that in the latest season of “The Crown”, the love triangle between Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles and Princess Diana is depicted as “one-sided. . “

“The way this series plays their relationship, you have Charles as some kind of good-for-nothing, evil and unpleasant, yelling at his wife and stuff,” Vickers told Insider’s Mikhaila Friel. “We never had his huge tantrums, and the things he did that he had to endure. He’s totally one-sided.”

Vickers also told Insider that “The Crown” production value can make it look “very convincing.”

“What you have to do with ‘The Crown’ is just suspend any belief about it,” Vickers said. “It’s so well shot and generously produced with good actors and actresses, so it looks very convincing, but it’s all fundamentally dishonest.”

Des Willie / Netflix; Julian Parker / UK Press via Getty Images

Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the show’s fourth season, recently told reporter Tamron Hall that she and other cast members want to remind viewers that the series is “fictional to a great extent.”

“The show we’re in is largely fictional. Obviously, it has its roots in reality, but Peter Morgan’s scripts are works of fiction,” Corrin told Hall. “At the same time, I understand why people would be angry because this is history, and even with Diana, it’s still very fresh, I suppose.”

“To the whole cast, we want to constantly remind people that we are getting close to these people that we play as characters,” Corrin said.

Representatives of “The Crown” on Netflix did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.