Dame Judi Dench has slammed the popular series "The Crown" as "cruelly unjust" and called on Netflix to add a disclaimer at the start of episodes warning viewers that they are watching a dramatization of events.
The Oscar-winning actress aired her views in a letter to the British newspaper The Times shortly after former Prime Minister John Major described a purported scene in the upcoming fifth season, which reportedly depicts Prince Charles (Dominic West) lobbying the PM to force his mother's abdication, as a "barrel-load of nonsense," according to Entertainment Weekly.
"Sir John Major is not alone in his concerns that the latest series of The Crown will present an inaccurate and hurtful account of history," Dench wrote. "Indeed, 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."
Among her concerns is that viewers may mistake the show's depiction of events as historical fact, which is why she felt Netflix should add a disclaimer to the beginning of episodes.
"While many will recognise The Crown for the brilliant but fictionalised account of events that it is, I fear that a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas, may take its version of history as being wholly true. This is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent," she explained.
Dench noted that, while she was a firm believer in artistic freedom, this was something she felt should not go "unchallenged."
"Despite this week stating publicly that The Crown has always been a 'fictionalised drama' the programme makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode," she continued.
Dench concluded her letter by pleading for the disclaimer as a sign of respect to Queen Elizabeth II, who died Sept. 8 at 96.
"The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve its reputation in the eyes of its British subscribers," Dench wrote.
In a statement to the AFP, Major described the scenes in the upcoming season of "The Crown" as "damaging and malicious fiction."
"There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any possible abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II — nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John)," the statement added.
A spokesperson representing the series responded to Major's comments, stating that "The Crown" "has always been presented as a drama based on historical events".
"Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family — one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians," the statement read.