Dominic West felt "extremely sympathetic" to King Charles and his now-wife Queen Consort Camilla after reenacting the infamous 'Camillagate' scandal for 'The Crown'.
Dominic West felt "extremely sympathetic" to King Charles and his now-wife Queen Consort Camilla after reenacting the infamous 'Camillagate' scandal for 'The Crown'.
In 1993, an intimate conversation between the then-Prince of Wales and his lover which had been recorded years before was made public and the 53-year-old actor admitted revisiting the call, which included the now-king telling Camilla he wanted to "live inside" her trousers but it would be just his luck to be reincarnated as a tampon, has given him a new take on the controversy.
Dominic - who portrays Charles in the upcoming fifth season of the regal drama - told Entertainment Weekly magazine: "I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time].
"Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you're conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation.
"What's really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press's attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape.
"I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they'd gone through."
Both Dominic and his co-star, Olivia Williams - who plays Camilla - were keen to show the couple as sympathetically as possible.
He said: "[Olivia is] extremely bright, she's extremely forthright, and she had straightaway a sympathy for Camilla, that I shared actually. We both felt that we wanted to do right by our characters. We felt the odds were slightly stacked against their relationship and we wanted to try and bring it across in as sympathetic a light as we could."
The upcoming episodes will also tackle the death of Charles' late ex-wife Princess Diana and Dominic insisted the subject has been handled sensitively.
He said: "It's a hell of a season, because it deals with Diana's death and appalling scenes, like having to break that news to your sons.
"I've got two boys of that age and so it's a heavy, heavy responsibility to get it right and something I think we all take pretty seriously."
The 'Affair' actor initially had reservations about signing up for the show, largely because he was apprehensive about having to follow Josh O'Connor in the role.
He recalled: "I said, 'You've got the wrong guy, I don't look anything like him.'
"I was very conscious of Josh's amazing performance, and his amazing success, and thought it was a bit of a hiding to nothing to try to follow that.
"I thought about it for several weeks, and it was one of those things you can't really get out of your head. [I] realised that you've got to give it a go because you'll regret it if you don't. He's a fascinating man, Charles, and it's a fascinating life, and a fascinating role. I mean, apart from anything else, it's a huge show, and I loved the first four seasons. I realised that I could very happily live with this character for two years."
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) appears to be just an ordinary 21-year-old girl living in East...
It's been 13 years since the release of the Disney/Pixar hit Finding Nemo, and filmmaker...
Dory's past has always eluded her, she's a little forgetful fish whose bright character and...
A sleekly made thriller with a sparky sense of humour, this is also a rare...
Thomas Wolfe was a writer who was used to rejection. His constantly lengthy novels didn't...
Since Nemo and his father were reunited, the residents living in the coral off the...
If you're looking for news on what stocks to buy, you switch on the TV...
Dory, everyones favourite forgetful fish from Finding Nemo is back and it looks like she...
A classic British memoir gets the full costume drama treatment with this beautifully crafted World...
Based on a true story, this crowd-pleasing comedy-drama is such a joy to watch that...
Vera Brittain is an extraordinarily talented young woman who battles the odds to land herself...
During the UK miners strike between 1984 and 1985, working families are in desperate need...
While trailers make this look like an effects-heavy sci-fi mess, the film is actually a...