TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh has criticised The Crown for “playing with people’s lives”.
Titchmarsh, who is a friend of Prince Charles, said he had watched the first two series of the big-budget royal drama but decided not to continue.
Netflix released the fourth series of The Crown, which covers the first years of the Prince of Wales’ relationship with Diana, including their wedding, in November.
Starring newcomer Emma Corrin as Diana and Josh O’Connor as Charles, it attracted criticism from some, with accusations that sufficient steps had not been taken to ensure viewers were made aware it is a work of fiction.
Netflix denied a request from Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to add a disclaimer to episodes, with the streaming service saying it had “every confidence” its consumers know the programme is only loosely based on the past.
Titchmarsh, 71, said it was not a “good idea” to base a drama on “real people”.
Speaking to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain, he said: “I watched the first two series, which were sufficiently distant historically to be interesting.
“Now we are getting much closer to the present day and so much of it is conjecture.
“We weren’t behind those closed doors when things were going on. To say, ‘Oh, it’s a drama’ – I think it is playing with people’s lives.
“Whether it’s the Prince of Wales or whether it is you or me. If somebody made a drama about we three and our private lives and they just made it up and said, ‘Well, it’s a drama really’.
“You are using real people. Whoever they are, I don’t think it is a good idea. That’s just me.”
