Dame Judi Dench Is Out Here Demanding That a Disclaimer Be Added to 'The Crown'

judi dench, the crown
Dame Judi Dench Is Not Here for 'The Crown'Netflix - Getty Images
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Dame Judi Dench has something to say about The Crown! In an open letter published by The Times, the iconic actor called the upcoming season "cruelly unjust" and "damaging," and demanded that the show put a disclaimer at the beginning of every episode.

Dame Judi specifically mentioned rumored scenes depicting then-Prince Charles plotting to oust the Queen with Prime Minister John Major, which Major's spokesperson recently called a "barrel-load of nonsense."

"Sir John Major is not alone in his concerns that the latest series of The Crown will present an inaccurate and hurtful account of history," Dame Judi began her letter. "Indeed, 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."

judi dench, the crown
Netflix - Getty Images

She continued, "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. Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series—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—this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent."

Judi added that she is a firm believer in "artistic freedom," but called upon Netflix to "reconsider" their decision not to have a disclaimer at the start of each episode. "The time has come for Netflix to reconsider," she wrote. "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."

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