Netflix rejects calls to add disclaimer to The Crown

LONDON — Netflix has “no plans” to add a disclaimer to “The Crown” stating that its lavish drama about Britain’s royal family is a work of fiction.

In a statement Saturday, Netflix said it has always presented the drama, as just that — a drama.

“We have always presented ‘The Crown’ as a drama — and we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events,” it said.

“As a result we have no plans — and see no need — to add a disclaimer.”

Netflix was urged last week by British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to add the disclaimer, in the wake of the broadcast of the drama’s fourth series.

Questions of historical fidelity weren’t a major issue during earlier seasons of the show, which debuted in 2016 and traces the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II, which began in 1952.

But the current fourth season is set in the 1980s, a divisive decade in Britain. Characters include Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose 11-year tenure transformed and divided Britain, and the late Princess Diana, whose death in a car crash in 1997 transfixed the nation and the world.

Some Conservatives have criticized the program’s depiction of Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson. Britain’s first female prime minister, who died in 2013, is portrayed as clashing with Olivia Colman’s Elizabeth to an extent that some say is exaggerated.

“The Crown” creator Peter Morgan, whose work also includes recent-history dramas “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon,” has defended his work, saying it is thoroughly researched and true in spirit.

Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother, was one who called on Netflix to add a disclaimer.

“I think it would help ‘The Crown’ an enormous amount if, at the beginning of each episode, it stated that, ‘This isn’t true

but it is based around some real events,’ ” he told broadcaster ITV. “I worry people do think that this is gospel and that’s unfair.”

Matt Dunham / Associated Press A man wearing a face mask walks past a billboard, on Nov. 20, advertising ‘ The Crown’ television series about Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family, during England’s second coronavirus lockdown, in London. Britain’s Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden in a newspaper interview published Sunday, said he thinks “The Crown” should come with a disclaimer as it’s a work of fiction with historical liberties taken in the Netflix drama about the British royal family.