LONDON: British actress Judi Dench has called on Netflix to add a disclaimer to royal drama “The Crown,” joining a chorus of voices criticizing the series’ fictionalized storylines.
In a letter to The Times on Thursday, the 87-year-old veteran said as the award-winning show approached present times “the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.”
“While many will recognize The Crown 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,” Dench wrote.
Dench has portrayed historical queens Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria on screen as well as James Bond’s boss “M.”
Netflix says “The Crown,” which follows the reign of late Queen Elizabeth over the decades, is “fictional dramatization,” inspired by real events.
Its fifth season, in which a new cast will portray the royal family in the 1990s, premieres on Nov. 9, two months after King Charles ascended the throne.
“No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged... the program makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode,” Dench wrote.
“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’s letter follows other criticism, including a statement from former Prime Minister John Major’s office to the Daily Mail calling a new scene a “barrel load of nonsense.”
According to the newspaper, the scene reportedly shows Charles speaking to Major as part of a plot to get the queen to abdicate.
Major’s office denied any such conversation took place.
Dench referenced the scene, calling it “both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.” Some royal commentators have also voiced concern the impact the show could have at the start of Charles’ reign.
A Netflix representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the royal family, and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period,” series creator Peter Morgan told Entertainment Weekly this week.
“But that doesn’t mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy. The show certainly isn’t.”
Judi Dench says Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ uses ‘crude sensationalism’
https://arab.news/jxxtd
Judi Dench says Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ uses ‘crude sensationalism’
- The series is “fictional dramatization" claims Netflix
Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ
- Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
- Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites
LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.
Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.
During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.
Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.
עיתונאים של CNN טורקיה נעצרו לאחר שצילמו את בסיס הקרייה@NoamIhmels pic.twitter.com/t8a5P9yXfw
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 3, 2026
Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.
Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.
After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.
The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.
Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.
