All we know about Harry and Meghan’s Netflix show: £88 million project airing next week will feature fly-on-the-wall footage of their home life and public outings – but they claim: ‘It’s our story through someone else’s lens’
- Netflix will release much-anticipated docu-series on 8th December
- Initially wanted to push back release until 2023 amid backlash over The Crown
- Duke and Duchess said to have welcomed the cameras into their Montecito
- In October, Meghan appeared to distance herself from the project
It was a picture perfect moment in The Hague – Meghan and Harry warmly embracing Invictus Games competitor Lisa Johnston, who was draped in a Union Jack, after the former army medic and amputee had just competed in an event at the Games the Prince founded in 2013.
In the background of the photographs, it’s clear to see the moment being caught on film; one of several times since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a rumoured £88million deal with Netflix that a camera from the streaming service has been by their sides on a public outing.
The TV giant, say industry sources, is set to unleash the fly-on-the-wall documentary on the royals’ lives and work next week on 8th December.
This is despite reports that the couple had tried to push it back to 2023 – unnerved by both Series 5 of The Crown sparking controversy on both sides of the Pond, and the release of Harry’s tell-all memoir on the way in January.
Royal experts have claimed in recent weeks that these two bombshell projects will further set back any prospect of a meaningful reconciliation between the couple, who live in a $14.65million Montecito mansion with their two children, Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, with King Charles and Prince William.
And, in an interview with Variety in October, Meghan made it clear their story has been told ‘through someone else’s lens’.
Here, FEMAIL looks at everything we know about the Netflix project so far…
No postponement: A fly-on-the-wall documentary about Harry and Meghan, part of the rumoured £88million ($100 million) deal the couple signed in September 2020, looks set to be next week despite claims that the couple had been keen to stall the project until 2023 (Pictured: Meghan and Harry film a message for Elton John’s Farewell concert in November)
Captured moments: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are filmed hugging Team United Kingdom competitor Lisa Johnston at the Invictus Games athletics events in the Netherlands in April this year – while a Netflix camera whirrs behind them
SIGNING THE NETFLIX DEAL: A £88 MILLION GOLDEN HELLO
Back in 2020, the couple gushed that signing the Netflix deal would help them provide ‘hope and inspiration’ through content
Just six months after the couple set up home in California in March 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced a shiny new deal with Netflix, saying they wanted to provide ‘hope and inspiration’ by teaming up with the streaming goliath.
The Duke and Duchess said their company, unnamed at the time but now known as Archewell Productions, would make documentaries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming.
In a statement, the Sussexes said: ‘Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.’
They added that Netflix’s ‘unprecedented reach will help us share impactful content that unlocks action.’
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer and co-chief exec, said at the time: ‘We’re incredibly proud they have chosen Netflix as their creative home and are excited about telling stories with them that can help build resilience and increase understanding for audiences everywhere.’
CAMERAS BEGIN TRAILING THE COUPLE – BUT NOT TO THE QUEEN‘S JUBILEE
After putting ink to paper on the deal, the Sussexes were said to have welcomed cameras into their luxury Montecito mansion for a reality-type documentary, Page Six reported.
While it’s unclear on exactly how much of their home life the couple were prepared to share, they certainly did let Netflix cameras trail them on public appearances in 2021 and 2022.
Harry and Meghan had been working on the series as part of their rumoured $100 million (£88million) deal with the beleaguered streaming giant. But there has been toing and froing over when it will be released
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, hug Lisa Johnston, a former army medic and amputee, who celebrates with her medal at the Invictus Games venue in The Hague, Netherlands, Sunday, April 17, 2022
The wider shot shows the couple being filmed for their fly-on-the-wall documentary series by a Netflix camera person
When Harry and Meghan jetted to the Global Citizen Live event in New York in late September 2021, a camera crew accompanied them.
And just over six months later in the Hague, in April this year, the Duke and Duchess were filmed at the Invictus Games, hugging Team United Kingdom competitor Lisa Johnston and meeting competitors and chatting to the crowds.
One of the organisers at the event said the Netflix team arrived in six people carriers with caseloads of equipment.
The film crew were given maroon bibs to help them stand out from the dozens of photographers covering the games and given exclusive access to the couple with behind close door meeting with the athletes.
However, iwhen it came to the Queen’s Jubilee in June – just a few months before the late Monarch died on September 8th, the couple were firmly told they wouldn’t be able to film while attending the celebrations.
Indeed, Meghan and Harry took a low key role in the national event, missing out on key moments on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, which only senior roles were allowed to attend.
‘TRUSTED’ LIZ GARBUS COMES ON BOARD – AFTER REPORTS OF A CLASH WITH PREVIOUS DIRECTOR GARRETT BRADLEY
After first signing their deal, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex turned to Garrett Bradley, director of the critically acclaimed Netflix series about tennis prodigy Naomi Osaka – but they reportedly clashed over the direction of the show, it was claimed earlier this month.
A TV insider told the New York Post how the collaboration unravelled: ‘Garrett wanted Harry and Meghan to film at home and they were not comfortable doing that. There were a few sticky moments between them, and Garrett left the project.
‘Harry and Meghan’s own production company captured as much footage as they could before Liz Garbus was hired.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had turned to Garrett Bradley (left), director of the critically acclaimed Netflix series about tennis prodigy Naomi Osaka – but they reportedly clashed over the direction of the show, leaving Liz Garbus, who was also due to work on the Duchess’ series Pearl before it was scrapped by Netflix, to take over
Filmmaker Liz Garbus, who directed the last season of The Handmaid’s Tale, was hired following Garrett’s exit from the project. In October, Megan told Variety Magazine, she admired Garbus’ work
Garbus, who was also due to work on the Duchess’ series Pearl before it was scrapped by Netflix, is a Left-leaning documentarian and filmmaker and also helmed the last season of The Handmaid’s Tale, which earned her an Emmy nomination in 2021.
The TV drama is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel, which became an instant feminist classic following the story of a woman named Offred, who is forced to live as ‘handmaid’ producing children against her will in a totalitarian North America.
Garbus has been involved in a host of other TV and film projects about oppressed women, notably including Girlhood, which follows two female inmates – victims of horrific violence and tragedy – who are serving time in a juvenile detention centre.
She has also had control over a documentary about the life and legend of singer, pianist and civil rights activist Nina Simone as well as a film called Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech.
Meanwhile the director’s Instagram page is openly political, with recent posts urging for women’s abortion rights and comments about ‘brilliant’ Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
But a Netflix source added that the streaming platform was ‘standing by the filmmakers’ who want to keep the content in the project, and that it will still be ‘going forward’.
In October, Megan told Variety Magazine that she was delighted to be working with Garbus, saying she was ‘a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired’.
The royal added: ‘It’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.’
DISTANCE? MEGHAN NOW SAYS ‘IT’S OUR STORY THROUGH SOMEONE ELSE’S LENS’
There have been mixed reports in the US about when the Netflix documentary about the couple’s lives will now air, but the general consensus is that there will now be no postponement and ‘the show will go on’ in December.
There have been mixed reports in the US, with Deadline insisting the show will be delayed until the new year citing bosses being ‘rattled’ and ‘blinking first’ because of the backlash over Season 5 of The Crown.
The show has made waves on both sides of the Atlantic and it is expected to cause fresh turmoil for the Royal Family. Harry also has his memoirs, named ‘Spare’, on the way.
In October, the Duchess of Sussex, in an interview with Variety magazine, praised the work of director Liz Garbus…but said any work by Netflix about the couple would be through ‘someone else’s lens’
Royal experts have claimed that two bombshell projects – Harry’s novel ‘Spare’, which is published in January and the documentary – have prevented any reconciliation with King Charles or Prince William
Certainly Meghan herself seems to be distancing herself from just how involved the couple have been. In her interview with Variety magazine, she said: ‘It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it.’
However, she appeared to add a disclaimer, saying: ‘But that’s not why we’re telling it. We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens.’
Previously, one Hollywood industry source said the couple were facing doubts about the series following the Queen’s death. They said: ‘A lot of conversations are happening. I hear that Harry and Meghan want the series to be held until next year, they want to stall.
‘I wonder if the show could even be dead in the water at this point, do Harry and Meghan just want to shelve this thing?,’ they added.
A Netflix insider also claimed: ‘Netflix has been keen to have the show ready to stream for December. There’s a lot of pressure on (Netflix CEO) Ted Sarandos, who has the relationship with Harry and Meghan, to get this show finished.’
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