The Duke of Sussex has stirred the pot yet again with his recent return to streaming screens, writes “Streaming” columnist NICK OVERALL. 

IT’S been just nine months since Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan Markle copped an avalanche of flak for their “tell-all” Netflix series “Harry and Meghan”, which essentially boiled down to six hours of royal whining interspersed with blurry phone footage. 

Now Harry has spearheaded yet another Netflix doco, thankfully of much more substance, but one that has experienced no less scrutiny.

This new five-part series “Heart of Invictus” tells the story of several athletes and their journey to compete in the 2022 Invictus Games.

For those not in the know, the games are an international sporting competition for servicemen and women who have been wounded or injured in the course of their duty. They also happen to be the brainchild of Prince Harry, who joins the doco on-camera and as executive producer, breaking down how and telling why he was inspired to create the contest. 

Though headlines in recent weeks might have said otherwise, Harry is certainly not the focus here. Or at least shouldn’t be.

The show features six incredible athletes and their journey to compete in the games. Their stories are both harrowing and moving. Some have been left physically disabled by their service, others are grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder, a few have even gone as far as attempting suicide and yet all have found redemption and triumph through their chosen sport.

Yuliia “Taira” Paievska is just one of these inspiring individuals. The Ukrainian medic was described as “a symbol of bravery and sacrifice” by “The New York Times” for her founding of “Taira’s Angels”, a volunteer Ambulance Corps serving amid the country’s conflict with Russia.

Two years ago Paievska secretly recorded more than 250 gigabytes of video which showed her medics providing care during the siege of Mariupol, footage that was then smuggled through more than a dozen Russian security checkpoints for use in the documentary.

She was soon after captured by Russian soldiers and tortured, but her participation in the Invictus Games as an archer and swimmer would become a key part of what helped secure her release.

Paievska’s story is worth a dozen articles in itself, so I will go no further recounting it here, but she’s just one example of the remarkable people the documentary follows. It’s a shame then they’ve become overshadowed by the never-ending monarchical biffo.

Since its release on Netflix, hundreds of headlines from across the world have decried Harry’s most recent “attack” on the Royal family, referencing a line in the series where he says nobody helped him when he returned from his own military service in Afghanistan and that his life “unravelled” as a result.

The show has also been met with controversy for not reaching Netflix’s top 10 shows despite high expectations, leading many outlets to label it as a “flop”.

Indeed, its viewership has paled in comparison to Harry and Meghan’s widely-panned series from late last year that racked up more than 81 million viewing hours worldwide.

It would have undoubtedly turned many Netflix subscribers off any new doco to do with the duke and the audience review score on IMDB for “Heart of Invictus” certainly reflects that – hovering at an average of 5.3/10. Perhaps it might have fared better had it come before “Harry and Meghan”.

The reception is ultimately a shame because the new documentary does have stories worth telling, stories that showcase the worst and best of humanity and that, if separated from Royal drama, might have taken the spotlight. In this columnist’s opinion it’s still worth a watch.

For those sick of seeing and hearing about Harry though there’s the bad news. This series is just the second of many more to come as part of the duke and duchess’ $US100 million deal with Netflix.

Over the coming years the couple want to create more docos, scripted series, feature films and even children’s shows that, in their words, will “inform, elevate and inspire”.

One has to wonder if a certain tendentious memoir may soon make it to the screen.