Filming on The Crown paused after eight crew members test positive for Covid-19

Filming on The Crown has paused after "at least eight" crew members tested positive for Covid-19.

Bosses on the Netflix regal drama decided to break for Christmas earlier than planned following the test results on Wednesday, sources told MailOnline.

And a spokesperson for the streaming service has now confirmed: "The Crown finished filming one day earlier than planned for the Christmas break following a few positive cases."

The fifth season will see Elizabeth Debicki play Diana, while Imelda Staunton takes on the role of Queen Elizabeth II and Dominic West will play Prince Charles.

The cast also features the likes of Jonathan Pryce (Prince Phillip), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret) and Jonny Lee Miller (John Major).

Meanwhile, Jemima Khan recently claimed she pulled out of working on the show and asked for her contributions to be removed because she felt its portrayal of her friend Diana's final years was "disrespectful".

Jemima - who briefly dated showrunner Peter Morgan until February this year - had never spoken publicly about her friendship with Diana but was keen to help give an "accurate" version of events.

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Jemima reportedly worked on outlines for season five scripts about Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed - who died in the same crash - and her infamous Panorama interview, but she ultimately felt Netflix didn't want to deal with the princess' story as "respectfully or compassionately" as she had hoped.

She said: "We worked together on the outline and scripts from September 2020 until February 2021.

"When our co-writing agreement was not honoured, and when I realised that particular storyline would not necessarily be told as respectfully or compassionately as I had hoped, I requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a credit."

A spokesperson for the show insisted Jemima had "never been contracted" as a writer on the programme but had merely helped producers with their research.