I STOPPED watching ‘The Crown’ halfway through the first series when it became increasingly obvious that the  producers were taking liberties with the truth.

‘The Crown’ is to Netflix what own brands are to discount supermarkets – who deliberately brand, label and market their version of the products of long-established household names such as Branston, Birds, Heinz (to name but a few) to so closely resemble the originals that until one takes a close look – they can easily be taken for the ‘genuine’ article.

I discovered this when I bought a pack of what I thought was Bird’s custard powder, only to find when I got home that what I’d bought was a cleverly labelled rip-off. It beats me how they get away with it.

Netflix has made millions out of presenting what purports to be (despite some pretty ineffectual disclaimers) the story of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ll, when in truth (pun intended) it has more in common with the fantasy series “Game of Thrones”.

Every episode of ‘The Crown’ should be prefaced with a full-screen disclaimer making it clear to the gullible that what they are about to see is British (shame on him) scriptwriter Peter Morgan’s imagination and loose interpretation of the truth.

ROBERT READMAN

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth