A “rattled” Netflix has pushed back the release of an upcoming documentary series focusing on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, following controversy surrounding The Crown.
The latest series of the streaming service’s smash hit will be released in November, and the as-yet untitled documentary series about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was expected the following month.
The series is produced by Netflix and the California-based royal couple’s own company, Archewell Productions, Deadline reported.
However, Netflix denied this week that any such project was even in the works.
“There’s never been any documentary from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed,” the company said in a statement to Deadline on Tuesday (Australian time).
The backdown follows criticism of the latest season of The Crown from former British PM Sir John Major at the weekend.
Mr Major was Britain’s prime minister from 1992-1997, and series five of the show is set in the 1990s.
One episode in the new series, ‘Queen Victoria Syndrome’, apparently, includes a scene that depicts Mr Major and then-Prince Charles (now the King) discussing potentially overthrowing the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The episode is centred around a 1991 poll run by a British newspaper that suggested the then monarch should abdicate in favour of her son.
In a statement published by British tabloid The Mail on Sunday, Mr Major lamented the unaired episode and said the purported conversation between him and the now-King never happened.
“If the scenes you describe are broadcast, they should be seen as nothing other than damaging and malicious fiction,” Mr Major’s office said in the statement.
“A barrel load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact.”
Netflix responds to damning remarks
Netflix apparently made its abrupt decision following Mr Major’s damning comments.
“They’re rattled at Netflix, and they blinked first and decided to postpone the documentary,” a source told Deadline.
In a statement to The Mail on Sunday, a Netflix spokesperson said The Crown was a dramatisation “imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family”.
But hours after the Deadline story emerged, rival Page Six reported a source had said the Harry and Meghan series remained on Netflix’s 2023 list.
The source also alleged if the docuseries was delayed, it was unrelated to The Crown.
The royal couple reportedly want to delay the release and there have been issues between them and Netflix. Page Six reports that issues arose after the Sussexes wanted to delete comments they made about the royal family.
The US Sun reported that Netflix would not be “pushed around” by the duke and duchess, and saw the looming series as simply a business transaction.
“At pitch and content production meetings, it is made clear that Netflix prides itself as an independent editorial broadcaster,” a source told the publication.
“They do not simply release whatever contributors serve up to them – they can go to Youtube for that.”
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