Olivia Colman’s debut as the Queen in Netflix’s drama series The Crown will be made free to watch by the streaming giant.

For around a month, viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to stream the first episode of the third series online, even if they do not have a Netflix membership.

The episode will be available from November 17 until December 15 on the Netflix website.

The Crown season three
Olivia Colman as the Queen and Tobias Menzies as the Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown (Des Willie/Netflix/PA)

A spokesman for Netflix said: “The Crown has become a globally renowned British success story since it first launched on Netflix three years ago.

“We want to give as many people as possible a flavour of the great content Netflix is creating here in the UK, by offering the first instalment of the new series without signing up.

“Until December 15, anyone can watch episode one simply by visiting netflix.com/thecrown.”

Graham Norton Show – London
Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter on The Graham Norton Show (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Helena Bonham Carter and Tobias Menzies also star in the new series.

The Crown was the first global Netflix original show to be produced and filmed in the UK.

Netflix has since worked on more than 40 other UK productions.