Netflix releases statement after new series of The Crown slammed by former Prime Minister

Netflix has released a statement defending the upcoming series of The Crown after the show was criticised as “damaging and malicious.”

The fifth and penultimate season of the streaming giant’s hit drama will be released in November, and is expected to feature scenes slammed by a former Prime Minister as “nonsense.” The new series will reportedly show the King – then the Prince of Wales – hosting a secret meeting with Sir John Major at Highgrove in 1991 while plotting to oust the Queen.

Sir John labelled the scenes as “malicious nonsense,” while a spokesman for the former PM – to be played by Jonny Lee Miller in the series – previously told The Times that if scenes depicting the meeting are broadcast “they should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction”.

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In a statement defending The Crown, a spokeswoman for Netflix said: “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.”

Netflix also said the sixth and final series of The Crown will not depict the Paris car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales in August 1997, contrary to media reports. The PA news agency understands the series will show the lead-up to the fatal incident as well as its aftermath, but not the crash itself.

Last week, a source on the production told Deadline how the cast and crew are “dreading” the filming of the tragic event. The fourth series of