The Crown's first episode of season three will be free for non Netflix users
Viewers in the UK without a Netflix subscription will be able to watch the first episode of The Crown's third season, which launches this Sunday November 17 and stars Olivia Colman as Elizabeth II, for free.
Netflix will put the episode on a dedicated open site for a limited period from Sunday, while Netflix subscribers will then be able to watch the following episodes as normal on Netflix. The entire season will be on Netflix from Sunday.
The streaming giant's decision to gift the first episode of The Crown to non-Netflix users is symbolic, since the show was the first global Netflix original to be produced and filmed in Britain.
Created by Peter Morgan, The Crown, which also stars Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret and Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, is one of Netflix's most popular shows.
"The Crown has become a globally renowned British success story since it first launched on Netflix three years ago," a Netflix spokesman said. "We want to give as many people as possible a flavor of the great content Netflix is creating here in the U.K., by offering the first installment of the new series without signing up."
Today, to mark The Telegraph website's 25th birthday, the paywall will come down for 25 hours to allow free access to all Telegraph digital content regardless of whether you have a Telegraph subscription. The Telegraph was the first newspaper in the country - and indeed Europe - to launch a website.
