- Season four of "
The Crown " onNetflix delves into the marriage of Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) and Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) and their 1983 tour ofAustralia . - The show's sixth episode, "Terra Nullius," depicts an interview by former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Richard Roxburgh) on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about Princess Diana and Prince Charles' visit.
- In "The Crown," Roxburgh's Hawke says of the Queen: "You wouldn't put a pig in charge of a herd of prime beef cattle, even if it did look good in a twinset and pearls."
- "Four Corners," an ABC program, took to Twitter to critique Hawke's interview on "The Crown," saying that the prime minister never likened the Queen to "a pig."
- "Four Corners" is not the only party to comment on how "The Crown" has portrayed historic events, but cast members have emphasized that the show is a work of fiction.
"The Crown" season four follows the British
"Terra Nullius," the sixth episode in the Netflix show's latest season, follows the fame that erupted around the young couple's visit to Australia and how it caused a rift between the pair.
The episode also includes a depiction of Australia's then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Richard Roxburgh) being interviewed for a feature on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about the arrival of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
"An unelected non-Australian who lives on the other side of the world and, for all their good intentions, is a different breed," Roxburgh, playing Hawke, says. "You wouldn't put a pig in charge of a herd of prime beef cattle, even if it did look good in a twinset and pearls."
Just over a week after the episode was released, "Four Corners," a program on Australia's ABC network, took to Twitter to critique how "The Crown" portrayed Hawke's interview.
—4corners (@4corners) November 25, 2020
"Four Corners" first pointed out that Hawke's 1983 interview on ABC was, in actuality, shown 14 days earlier than it was portrayed in "The Crown." It also made another correction: Hawke's interview took place in a studio in Melbourne, not Canberra, as it was shown in the series.
—4corners (@4corners) November 25, 2020
ABC's "Four Corners" continued: "And while we've enjoyed your creative license, Hawke did not call the Queen a pig on our show and say, 'You wouldn't put a pig in charge of a herd of prime beef cattle, even if it does look good in twin set and pearls.'"
The news network included a video of Hawke's 1983 interview, in which he described Prince Charles as "a nice young bloke," a line that "The Crown" kept in its adaptation.
—4corners (@4corners) November 25, 2020
"Four Corners" is not the only party to comment on how "The Crown" has portrayed historic events.
Since season four of "The Crown" premiered on November 15, historians have commented on the show's fictionalized portrayal of historical events and relationships between
Hugo Vickers, a royal historian and author of "The Crown Dissected: An Analysis of the Netflix Series The Crown," told Insider that the casting and production of "The Crown" can make it difficult for audiences to decipher what's true and what's dramatized.
"What you have to do with 'The Crown' is just suspend all belief about it," Vickers said. "It's so well-filmed and lavishly produced with good actors and actresses, so it looks very convincing, but it's all totally fundamentally dishonest."
Representatives for ABC and Netflix, respectively, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
- Read more:
- Photos show the true story behind Princess Diana's famous New York City visit featured on 'The Crown'
- What 'The Crown' gets wrong about Prince Charles and Camilla's relationship in the '80s
- 8 historical events covered in season 4 of 'The Crown' and the real stories behind them
- Photos show the true story behind Princess Diana's famous Australia tour featured on 'The Crown'