The Crown's Gillian Anderson responds to criticism over the show

"If you didn't do it, we wouldn't be writing about it."

By Jacob Sarkisian

15 Dec 2022

The Crown star Gillian Anderson has hit back at criticism against Netflix's controversial historical drama, insisting that the show treats the royal family with "kindness".

The series has been criticised several times for allegedly sensationalising historical events involving the royals. But in an interview with Total Film, Anderson, who played Margaret Thatcher in season four, has defended the show from those accusations.

"There's a lot of researchers involved, and a lot of people checking and double-checking and triple-checking," Anderson said, joining season five star Jonathan Pryce in defending The Crown.

Netflix

"There's a lot that has not been written about that could be written about. And if you knew the difference in those, you'd see there is a great deal of kindness and restraint. At the end of the day, there are incredibly compassionate and well-rounded takes on human beings."

She continued: "And what you're left with is properly, maturely drawn, complex characters. And there's a lot that's in there that one has to say, 'If you didn't do it, we wouldn't be writing about it.'"

Recently, Dame Judi Dench wrote a letter criticising the show and imploring Netflix to carry disclaimers at the start of each episode.

Netflix

"The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely art seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism," Dench wrote.

Netflix has previously rejected calls to include a disclaimer for The Crown, arguing it has always presented the popular TV show as a fact-based drama. However, Netflix did add a disclaimer to the trailer of season five following Dench's complaint.

The description beneath the trailer read: "Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign."

The Crown seasons 1-5 are streaming on Netflix. Seasons 1-4 are also available on DVD and Blu-ray.