Netflix’s historical drama The Crown may have faced its share ofcontroversies since its debut in 2016, but that hasn’t prevented theseries from becoming one of the streamer’s most popular titles — not justin the United Kingdom and the United States, but across the globe. Following the Wednesday,Nov. 9 debut of The Crown Season 5, the Peter Morgan-created series,which documents the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II, jumpedstraight to the top of the streaming charts, pulling in some stunningviewership numbers.
The hit Netflix original series documents adecade of Her Majesty’s reign each season, and after documenting the’80s in Season 4, Season 5 jumped to the ’90s, a decade that was a notablycontroversial and very tumultuous time for the British royal family. Season 5 saw everything from the Queen’s self-proclaimed “annushorribilis” in 1992, the year during which three of her four childrenseparated from or divorced their partners and was marked by PrinceCharles’ and Princess Diana’s divorce, to the Windsor Castle fire to”Tampongate.” Due to the nature of the series, Season 5 also introduced afresh cast, with Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce playing QueenElizabeth and Prince Philip, respectively. Dominic West plays PrinceCharles while Elizabeth Debicki stars as Princess Diana. Lesley Manvilleplays Princess Margaret and Olivia Williams stars as Camilla ParkerBowles.
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Season 5 proved to be an instant hit, with The Crown debuting on the streaming charts in the U.S. Just a day afterits debut, the series ranked as the No. 2 most popular series on thestreamer in the region, and it has since risen to claim the No. 1 spot,beating out Ancient Apocalypse, Love is Blind, Manifest, and WarriorNun, which make up the Top 5. The Crown has also secured a No. 1 spotworldwide, according to the most recent data published by Flix Patrol.The most recent season helped push The Crown back into the No. 1 spot incountries across the globe, including Australia, Canada, Egypt, France,India, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
That No. 1 spotranking has pulled some pretty impressive numbers, too. For the week ofNov. 7 through Nov. 13, The Crown ranked No. 1 on the streamer’s globalTop 10 for English TV series. It drew in a total of 107.93 millionviewers during this period as compared to 74.78 million viewers duringthat same period for the No. 2 title, Manifest. Viewership data for theweek of Nov. 14 through Nov. 20, which will mark Season 5’s first fullweek of streaming, has not yet been released.
The Crown, ofcourse, isn’t without controversy. Throughout its five-season run, theseries has often faced criticism for its inaccuracies and fabricationof the truth. There have even been calls for Netflix to add a warningalerting viewers to the series being fictionalized, though the streamerhasn’t heeded those calls. All five seasons of The Crown are streamingon Netflix. The series has been renewed for a sixth and final season.
‘Brilliant’
“Probably repeating what many other people have said, but Season 5 of [The Crown] is brilliant,” tweeted one fan. “Elizabeth Debicki is incredible as Diana and Imelda Staunton is great as the Queen. The series does however serve as a painful reminder of the horrid ordeal Diana went through.”
Elizabeth Debicki
“Can we take a moment to appreciate Elizabeth Debicki’s magnificent portrayal of Princess Diana,” praised one viewer.
Flashbacks
“my favourite genre is claire foy coming back for flashback elizabeth scenes,” wrote one person.
Romanovs
“If you’d asked me to make a list of things I expected from series 5 of The Crown, I’d have been going for about 5 years before I got to ‘a 10 minute long recreation of the assassination of the Romanovs,’” one viewer reacted.
Tampongate
“That ‘Tampongate’ conversation between Charles and Camilla finished me,” tweeted one person. “Its so much worse actually hearing the conversation outloud.”
Viewers discuss royal family
“After having watched a few episodes of [The Crown] season 5, I totally understand why the Royal family didn’t want it to be released,” added somebody else, going on to pointedly write, “It DOES NOT make them look good at all. The constant gaslighting of Diana was not a great look and it reminds us that Charles and Camilla are trash.”
Fiction
“I loved the first couple seasons of [The Crown] and I understand artistic license, but the last season and now this one… I can’t watch,” wrote one person. “I’m already seeing the complete lies being spread by people who don’t understand this is a work of fiction. It’s disgusting.”
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