Ex-British prime minister slams ‘The Crown’ as ‘malicious fiction’

Out with the old and in with the new is a now familiar part of “The Crown” and its rotating cast, serving as a reminder of how rich the existing British acting pool is with its slew of recognizable faces. This series can also make careers as Emma Corrin and Vaness Kirby were launched into the stratosphere after her breakout performance as the young Diana Spencer and Princess Margaret.

EXCLUSIVE: Prasanna Puwanarajah said he jumped at the opportunity to appear in The Crown portraying infamous television journalist Martin Bashir, pummeled by a BBC inquiry that condemned the “deceitful” methods he used to obtain the controversial 1995 Panorama TV interview with Princess Diana, because ”roles like that just don’t really exist for Asian actors.”

The Crown, Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles has demonstrated a few times that she seems to like—or at least, not mind—seeing herself and her loved ones on the screen.Dominic West, the English actor who will play Prince-now-King Charles III in of the series, recently revealed that when he talked to Parker Bowles last (at a party in 2021), she called him “Your Majesty,” a subdued wink-and-a-nod typical of Brits. Speaking to the , West also recounted that he offered to resign his post as ambassador for The Prince's Trust, one of Charles' charities, in case the role was seen as a conflict of interest.“You do what you like, you’re an actor. It’s nothing to do with us,” West said, summarizing a letter from the King's personal secretary.

The latest season of The Crown isn’t even out yet and it’s already the center of major controversy!

Judi Dench wrote in an open letter published Wednesday in of London that  ought to have a «fictionalised drama» disclaimer before the start of every episode as the series inches closer «to our present times.»The 87-year-old actress said that «no one is a greater believer in artistic freedom» than her but «this cannot go unchallenged.» She insists that «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.»Dench — who portrayed Queen Victoria in the 1997 film and 2017's, as well as Queen Elizabeth in 1998's — also wrote that «while many will recognise for the brilliant but fictionalized 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.»She added that the «sensationalism» — that 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» -- is «cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.» Dench was referring to former U.K. Prime Minister John Major (1990-1997), who responded over the weekend to rumors in the U.K. media that one of the plotlines in season 5 includes Prince Charles suggesting in 1991 he wanted Major's support to dethrone his mother.

Season five of The Crown will finally drop on Netflix on Wednesday 9 November and the latest instalments certainly come at an interesting time for the Royal family. As Charles and Camilla settle into life as King and Queen Consort, the hit series will throw the spotlight on a fictionalised depiction of Charles' relationship with Diana.

The Crown will be tackling this storyline after all, it seems.

Nearly two and a half years after Josh O’Connor declared “The Crown” would not include Prince Charles‘ infamous “Tampongate” phone call with Camilla Parker Bowles, it’s now been confirmed it actually is happening, and it’s O’Connor’s successor, Dominic West, who spilled the tea.

Josh O'Connor declared  would not include Prince Charles' infamous «Tampongate» phone call with Camilla Parker Bowles, it's now been confirmed it actually happening, and it's O'Connor's successor, Dominic West, who spilled the tea.West, who is playing the younger version of King Charles III in the upcoming seasons 5 of the Netflix show, opened up to  about how he felt about the ordeal while confirming to the outlet that the 1993 phone call will make it in the show. «I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time],» West, 53, told. «Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you're conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation.

Netflix has reportedly 'postponed' Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's documentary until next year following backlash to The Crown Season 5.

called the show a “barrel load of nonsense” and railed that its depictions of his time in office were “damaging and malicious fiction.”The former prime minister’s comments came after the show was accused of fabricating a smear against King Charles, showing him lobbying Major for a secret plot to oust the Queen.Major’s office told The Mail on Sunday that the meeting never took place.“Sir John has not co-operated in any way with The Crown. Nor has he ever been approached by them to fact-check any script material in this or any other series,” read a statement from his office.“As you will know, discussions between the monarch and prime minister are entirely private and – for Sir John – will always remain so.

The next series of The Crown is set to be released on Netflix on November 9 and will detail the Royal Family’s lives for the first half of the 1990s. Series five will largely focus on the breakdown of the marriage between Princess Diana and the then Prince Charles, which will include the controversial Panorama interview, according to reports.

Sir John Major has branded 'The Crown' "damaging and malicious fiction". The former Prime Minister - who will be played by Jonny Lee Miller in the upcoming fifth season of the Netflix drama series - insisted he has "never been approached" by producers to discuss the scenes planned for the show and hit out a storyline depicting then-Prince Charles (Dominic West) lobbying him to join a plot to urge Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) to abdicate. The 79-year-old former Conservative leader insisted there was "never" such discussions between himself and Charles during his time as Prime Minister.

The royal family is bracing for the fifth season of “The Crown”, as the upcoming season covers arguably the most tumultuous period in the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II: the messy, contentious divorce of Charles and Diana.