The fifth series of the smash hit Netflix drama will begin streaming on Wednesday November 9.
The audio and transcript of the six minute conversation was published by a tabloid, and was then dredged back up in 1993 following the announcement of Charles and Diana’s separation.
Netflix bosses said the moment would be depicted “sympathetically as two young lovers”, however, there has been controversy over the “crass” decision made in “bad taste”, according to The Telegraph.
Josh O’Connor, who played a young Prince Charles in series three and four of the show, said he would not film the phone call.
The tampongate scandal caused a ruckus in the Royal Family (Image: Daily Mail)
The story broke while the pair were still married to other people (Image: Getty)
He told SiriusXM in 2020: “When they offered me the role, one of my first questions was – I say questions, I think it was pretty much a statement – “We are not doing the tampon phone call”.
“[The Crown] was my one chance for my parents to see something [I’ve acted in] with no shame and there’s no way I was going to scuttle that by talking about tampons on Netflix.”
Dominic West, who will take up the mantle of playing Charles in the new series, said he previously felt the phone call was “sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing” but had now changed his mind.
Josh O’Connor (Image: Getty)
Dominic West (Image: Getty)
“What’s really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press’s attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape.
“I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they’d gone through.”
Olivia Williams (Image: Getty)
A spokesperson for Netflix told The Telegraph that The Crown “has always been presented as a drama based on historical events”.
The spokesperson added that series five “will cover events that have already been widely documented by journalists, biographers and historians”, reported the Daily Mail.
Source: EXPRESS CO UK
