Calls for Netflix to label 'The Crown' fiction highlight fantasy's power to wound in real life

LONDON — Drama on TV usually stays on the screen. That, however, has not been the case for the most recent season of Netflix’s “The Crown.”

The first three seasons of the popular series, a sweeping dramatization of the British royal family, largely passed without too much controversy. But the most recent fourth season, released last month, has caused uproar with a growing list of historians and politicians urging Netflix to make clear that the show is fictional, seemingly concerned it could damage the real-life royals.

“It is just inaccurate, obviously totally unfair, but also quite dangerous in fact to the British constitution,” said historian Andrew Roberts, who wrote “The Royal House of Windsor,” tracing the history of the queen’s family.

The show does indeed blend history and fiction. Meticulously crafted, the show’s outfits, hairstyles and accents often match reality, and it can be hard to follow where exactly its narrative strays from history.

With the House of Windsor facing new challenges, including the dramatic departure of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle to the U.S., “The Crown” has helped remake the royal family’s image for a new generation.

The fourth season delves into more recent history, depicting Prince Charles’ doomed relationship with Diana, with the show’s characters played by Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor.Des Willie / Netflix

But that has consequences.

“The inaccuracies are dangerous because people believe them,” said Roberts.

The fourth season’s depiction of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles’ doomed relationship with Diana paints the royals in a more negative light, highlighting disfunction rather than triumph.

And there are signs that the show’s representation of Charles is influencing real-life perceptions of the heir to the throne and his current wife, Camilla.

The settings on posts to the couple’s official Twitter account were changed last week to limit comments to only those they also follow. The move came after an influx of negative comments on recent posts, including one calling Charles a “monster” and others sharing photos of Diana.

The danger of the show changing people’s impressions of the royal family is especially pronounced when it comes to Camilla, according to Roberts.

Her “hopes of becoming queen are seriously threatened by the fact that she has been portrayed as an evil unfeeling woman. Which is completely different from the truth,” he said. The title she will take when her husband assumes the throne has not yet been decided.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

Fifteen years after their marriage, the drama that once surrounded the couple’s relationship has largely subsided so it is easy to forget that in the 1990s, many blamed Camilla for the breakup of Charles’ marriage to Diana, who famously referred to her as the “third person” in a failed relationship.

Camilla’s image has been largely rehabilitated in recent years in Britain, where she is generally portrayed in the media and on the royals’ social media feeds as genuine and down to earth.

Still, the latest YouGov poll, released in October, found that more than 80 percent of those surveyed in Britain view the queen positively. Only 44 percent viewed Camilla positively.

The show’s influence in the popular imagination led Britain’s culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, to tell the Mail on Sunday newspaper that he believes Netflix should make it clear that “The Crown” is not an accurate reflection of reality.

“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, I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact,” Dowden said.

Netflix told NBC News it had “no comment” on the calls for fiction warnings on the show.

A survey released by YouGov on Tuesday showed that 74 percent of respondents think that programs or films that dramatize real life events should show a warning saying that it may not accurately reflect what really happened.

Lawmaker Michael Forsyth, who currently sits in the House of Lords, agrees with Dowden that Netflix should spell out in a voiceover before each show that some of the events and the dialogue is made up.

“It’s certainly very wounding and unpleasant for [Charles] to put up with this and if people believe it then it would be damaging,” said Forsyth.

“He is presented as a completely self-obsessed, unpleasant person who is horrible to the Princess of Wales and I think it’s… I feel very sorry for him being subject to this.”

The show’s creator Peter Morgan has previously defended his approach to the way the series captures the royal family.

“Often I’m having to connect the dots and make calculated guesses. Sometimes creative guesses,” he told NBC News in 2017. “And all I can say is, I’m doing so with the best intentions to look at the subject from all sides and to be a responsible biographer.

But comments by one of the show’s stars added to the growing pressure this week with the release of an interview recorded before the furor erupted. Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the queen’s sister Princess Margaret, said that it is the show’s duty to make clear that the series is fictional.

“It is dramatized. I do feel very strongly because I think we have a moral responsibility to say, hang on guys, this is not, it’s not a drama doc, we’re making a drama. So they are two different entities,” Bonham Carter said on the latest episode of the show’s official podcast that was released on Monday. The comments were recorded earlier this year.

The show is set to return to TV screens in the coming years with season five, bringing viewers a historic dramatization that is even closer to the modern day — though this season is not expected to be any closer to reality than the four previous. Actress Imelda Staunton, who played in the “Harry Potter” movies, is set to play the queen.

source: nbcnews.com