The Crown star Helena Bonham Carter says show ‘shouldn’t carry on’

Helena Bonham Carter has said she doesn’t think Netflix drama The Crown, which she starred in for two series, should continue.

The actress, who played Princess Margaret in series three and four, explained that now Peter Morgan’s royal drama has caught up to more recent times it should come to a close.

Speaking to The Guardian, Helena was asked if she thought Prince Harry‘s recent book Spare would make it ‘easier’ for Morgan to write The Crown now he had a first hand account of recent royal drama. 

‘I should be careful here, but I don’t think they should carry on, actually,’ Helena, who succeeded Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, replied.

‘I’m in it and I loved my episodes, but it’s very different now. When The Crown started it was a historic drama, and now it’s crashed into the present. But that’s up to them.’

Helena added that she did not want to ‘contribute’ to the conversation around Prince Harry’s book, calling it ‘complicated,’ and adding that her words will ‘get taken out of context. And I think it’s been given enough attention.’

The part of Princess Margaret has been taken over in season four, which was released in November 2020, by Lesley Manville. 

In October The Crown creator Peter Morgan hit back at critics who have accused the Netflix series of ‘exploiting’ the Royal Family in its most recent series.

The award-winning British screenwriter, 59, came out in defence of his show, which dramatised the breakdown of King Charles and Diana’s marriage in series five while  the late royal’s tragic death in 1997 will be a storyline in the upcoming sixth series.

In September 2022 a friend of the King’s told the Daily Telegraph that the series was ‘exploitative’ and claimed Netflix has ‘no qualms about mangling people’s reputations.’

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Peter acknowledged that the latest season doesn’t shy away from the Royal Family’s ‘difficult time’ in the 1990s.

Describing how King Charles ‘will almost certainly have painful memories’ of that period, the screenwriter said: ‘That doesn’t mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy.’

Meanwhile Elizabeth Debicki – who plays Diana in the new series – insisted the storylines have been handled with ‘sensitivity and truth and complexity’.

‘The show certainly isn’t. I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position — indeed, a family in their position.

‘People are more understanding and compassionate than we expect sometimes.’

She added: ‘Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do actors.’

The show will conclude with the sixth series this year.