Judi Dench hits out at The Crown over ‘cruelly unjust’ depiction of royal family

Judi Dench has recently lashed out at Netflix’s The Crown for its “cruelly unjust” portrayal of the British royal family.

In an open letter to The Times of London published ahead of its launch in November, Dench advised the giant streaming service to add a disclaimer to each episode of the series to show that it’s a “fictionalised account of historical events” reported via Variety.

“The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism,” the letter read.

It is pertinent to mention that the new season will be stressed on the divorce between Princes Charles and late Princess Diana and other disturbing aspects of the royal family in the 90s.

Dench mentioned, “Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series including King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, for example, or once suggested his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence; this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.”

“No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged,” said Skyfall star.

The Belfast actress noted that despite saying it publicly that the series is “a fictionalised drama”, the creators have “resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode”.

Dench wrote in a letter that the Netflix should “reconsider for the sake of a family and a nation as a mark of respect to the late Queen who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve their own reputation in the eyes of their British subscribers”

For the unversed, the actress was honoured with dame by the late Queen in 1988. She also depicted both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria on screen in the older seasons.

Meanwhile, The Crown Season 5 will begin on November 9 on Netflix.