Too soon for The Crown?
Despite queen's recent death, fifth season to launch in November, Celia Walden says.
“Very distasteful and quite frankly, cruel rubbish,” is how the queen's former press secretary chose to describe one plot line in the forthcoming season of The Crown. Dickie Arbiter was reacting to news that season 5 of the hit Netflix show — which premières on Nov. 9 — will hint at Prince Philip's rumoured affair with society beauty Penny Knatchbull.
“The truth is that Penny was a longtime friend of the whole family,” Arbiter went on. “But Netflix are not interested in people's feelings.”
That last part isn't strictly true. The streaming giant is very interested in portraying feelings and capitalizing on them, but like any entertainment company, Netflix isn't going to get stuck in the weeds with issues of fact versus fiction. It would, however, like us to know that it considered stalling the release of the fifth season after the queen's death last month — before deciding to go ahead as planned.
As with previous seasons and despite calls to add a disclaimer to the hit show, Netflix apparently has no intention of doing so. It has “always presented The Crown as a drama,” it said back in 2020, “and we have every confidence our members understand it's a work of fiction that's broadly based on historical events.”
Netflix will, however, continue to feature “trigger warnings” before episodes featuring nudity or Diana's eating disorder, the logic presumably being that while graphic depictions of such things may upset their subscribers, “creative” or factually inaccurate depictions of events will only upset members of the Royal family. And they can't really feel things like we do, can they?
If you think I'm being glib, consider the statement made in one of the many think pieces written about whether a disclaimer is “really necessary considering fans are aware that The Crown is not a documentary” — “Surely the Royal Family can't be that fragile.”
No question mark is needed because it's impossible that any member of that illustrious clan could be hurt or angered by something like the friendship between Philip and Knatchbull, played by Natascha Mcelhone. Even if, as Arbiter says, this will be shown “just weeks after the nation laid Her Majesty to rest next to Prince Philip.”
You could interpret that statement about fragility differently: as in “The institution can't be that fragile. How can a mere TV show rock something as solid as the monarchy?”
Well it is, of course, deeply fragile, thanks to a number of factors, but it's also obvious that the series once described by its creator, Peter Morgan, as “a love letter to the queen” has prompted a new fascination and appreciation for the Royal Family around the world.
In any case, art doesn't exist to protect or bolster institutions. It exists to entertain. And The Crown does that brilliantly. But that “confidence” Netflix has in its viewers' understanding of history? I believe it's both disingenuous and misplaced. Every time I see my devout Crown fan friend in Los Angeles, she'll tell me about some new non-fact she's learned from the series.
Recently, a university academic threatened legal action against the makers of a new film, The Lost King, which tells the story of an “ordinary woman” — Philippa Langley — who “took on the country's most eminent historians, forcing them to think again.”
According to Richard Taylor, who was part of the University of Leicester team that found and identified the king 's remains a decade ago, the comedy-drama isn't just “far-removed” from the truth but “reckless” with it. Nevertheless, promotional material calls the film a “remarkable, true story.”