Plot twist in Judi Dench’s beef with Netflix show The Crown

Judi Dench may have claimed a small victory in her battle against The Crown, but she probably wouldn’t have wanted this part becoming public.

When Judi Dench came out swinging against The Crown, the producers were apparently a little surprised.

Not because Dench wasn’t a likely champion for the royals but because she had been in talks to play a role in the expensive Netflix drama, according to The Times.

The Times reported Dench was previously in negotiations to play the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, in the upcoming fifth and sixth seasons.

According to insiders, “Both sides were taking it seriously.” It had gone as far as Dench purportedly liking the script she was sent.

The Times posited a few reasons for why Dench ultimately didn’t join the cast. One was that it was a relatively small role for someone of Dench’s status and that it maybe didn’t pay as much as she would normally command.

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Judi Dench was in talks to be in The Crown. Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

The Crown instituted a rule that the highest paid cast member in the production will be the actor playing Queen Elizabeth, after it was revealed Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, was paid more than Claire Foy for the first two seasons. Foy was given backpay after a public scandal.

The other reason why Dench may not have been cast was concerns that the decision would affect her relationship with the royal family. Dench is said to be friends with Camilla, Queen Consort, and is often an attendee at royal events. She received her damehood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.

instead, the Queen Mum role went to Marcia Warren, who has been in Sherlock, Edge of Heaven and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

Dench made headlines late last week when she penned an open letter stridently criticising The Crown for what she termed “crude” and “cruel” treatment of the British royal family.

She lambasted the show for blurring the line between historical accuracy and sensationalism, and demanded the show include a disclaimer before each episode that the show is fictionalised drama.

Judi Dench is reportedly friends with Camilla, Queen Consort. Picture: Toby Melville/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Dench wrote: “Given some wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series – that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, for example, or once suggested his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence – this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.

“No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged.”

There appeared to be a capitulation of sorts from Netflix when over the weekend its release of the latest trailer was accompanied by a caption on YouTube which said: “Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”

Dench has previously played two British royals – Queen Victoria in Victoria & Abdul and Mrs Brown, and Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.

Judi Dench as Queen Victoria in the film Victoria & Abdul.

The Crown has come under increasing pressure from fiercely protective royalists who have taken offence at the drama series’ depiction of the Windsors.

The upcoming fifth season will cover the early 1990s, focused on the public and acrimonious divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The palace is said to be concerned rehashing the scandal will damage the newly-acceded monarch who has spent decades rehabilitating his reputation.

Former UK PM John Major has branded a scene between him and Charles plotting the Queen’s abdication as “damaging malicious fiction” and “a barrel-load of nonsense”.

There is also supposedly a plot line involving Prince Philip “pursuing an affair” with Penelope Knatchbull.

Photos of the production filming recreated scenes of Princess Diana’s funeral procession also caused consternation, despite the moment being a culturally significant, widely broadcast and frequently replayed event.

The fifth season of The Crown is available to stream on November 9 and stars Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West, Jonathan Pryce, Olivia Williams and Jonny Lee Miller.

The sixth and final season is currently in production and will take the timeline to 2002 and the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.