'The Crown' actor opens up on recreating Diana's 'Panorama' interview with Martin Bashir

The Crown season five sparked debates on its controversial portrayal of historical events of the Royal Family.

Besides the dramatization of Prince Charles, Princess Diana’s dramatic divorce, the latest installment of the royal drama series has recreated BBC Panorama infamous interview of the Princess of Wales with Martin Bashir.

British actor Prasanna Puwanarajah, who plays Bashir in The Crown, told Insider about his preparation for the role.

He said that he prepared for the part by researching Bashir's previous interviews and watched Diana's "Panorama" interview "many times."

"It was an interesting thing to revisit. I was quite young, but I remember it being in the world as a moment, so it wasn't something that I really considered for over 25 years now," he said.

The actor lauded Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Princess Diana in the latest season, and said, "She was already extraordinary and had already, I think, tapped a kind of essence or something."

"I think she'd been considering the role and researching and working for quite a long time, even prior to that point. And so, it immediately felt like a really seriously crafted and tuned piece of work she was doing even at that stage," he added.

The Martin Bashir actor further shared that the Panorama interview scene itself was filmed over the course of just one day.

"It was a thing that we worked on very carefully," he said. "We rehearsed it on set as well for an afternoon, then there was a period of a week where the production did other things, and then we came back and we filmed that section over the course of one day."

The fifth season’s episodes seven and eight picturize how Bashir was able to get access to Diana and convinced the princess to sit down for the conversation, including forged bank documents and more.