Streaming platform Netflix has rejected a call from the UK culture minister to add disclaimers at the start of episodes of its hit series “The Crown” to make clear that it is a work of fiction, a number of British media outlets reported on Sunday.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden is among several prominent figures in Britain who have argued that the scripted series, in which actors play members of the royal family, risked giving viewers a false and damaging impression.
A government source said Dowden had written to the company saying the series was “a beautifully produced and acted drama” but that Netflix should be very clear that the production was a work of fiction.
Netflix did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters requesting comment.
“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,” the company was quoted as saying in the UK media.
“As a result we have no plans — and see no need — to add a disclaimer.”
While many British viewers have enjoyed watching “The Crown,” the most recent season has attracted criticism from commentators over scenes suggesting that the late Princess Diana was treated coldly, even cruelly, by senior royals.
Columnist Simon Jenkins of the Guardian newspaper accused the fourth season of having “upped the fabrication and the offence.”
Arguing that modern history was “too close to what should be sacred ground — bearing witness to passing events,” he wrote that artistic licence could not justify fabrications that showed living or recently dead people in the worst possible light.