Yahoo Finance Jason Watkins found 'The Crown' Aberfan scenes 'very difficult' following daughter's death
Jason Watkins has explained how filming scenes for The Crown around the 1966 Aberfan disaster was a tough challenge for him following the loss of his own daughter Maude.
The actor, who will be seen in the role of Prime Minister Harold Wilson when the Netflix series launches on 17 November, and his wife Clara Francis lost their two-year-old daughter to sepsis on New Year's Day 2011.
Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on her ITV show, Watkins, 53, shared: "It’s an incredibly moving film, each episode is a film in itself, we filmed not far from Aberfan.”
116 children and 28 adults were killed following a landslide in Aberfan, Wales, an event covered in the third season of the royal drama.
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"The care and attention that was taken by everyone in production. And people probably know I lost a child, me and my wife Clara lost Maude in 2011, so to go and have an episode about the loss of a child was very difficult.
“And I think I suppose above anyone else wanted to make it in the right way.
“It helps us to remember what happened...I’m very proud to be part of that, no matter how difficult it was."
The 1966 tragedy is addressed in the new series of the Netflix show, as the Queen visits the Welsh mining village eight days after the accident, with scenes filmed in the village of Cwmaman.
The collapse of a colliery spoil tip saw the local primary school and other surrounding buildings engulfed in slurry.
Watkins, who is a patron of Child Bereavement UK, has previously spoken about the "cataclysmic effect" losing his daughter had on his family.
He's said that losing a child was like being in “a very dark pit that you feel you can’t get out of”.
The Being Human star and his wife also share children Bessie and Gilbert, while Watkins has two older sons, Pip and Freddie, from his first marriage.
