Scoop dares to go where The Crown wouldn’t in first trailer
Prince Andrew's disastrous BBC interview is the subject of Netflix's new drama Scoop, premiering April 5
Film News Scoop
The Crown covered a lot, but it didn’t get to the biggest scandal in modern royal history: Prince Andrew’s association with “billionaire pedophile” Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent fallout. But Netflix’s commitment to making fictionalized Windsor drama is unparalleled, and so they’ve got some Crown alums together to create Scoop (premiering April 5), which documents how Andrew’s infamous 2019 interview with BBC’s Newsnight came to be.
“Inspired by real events, Scoop is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earth shattering interview—Prince Andrew’s (played by Rufus Sewell) infamous BBC Newsnight appearance,” reads a synopsis for the film. “From the tension of producer Sam McAlister’s (played by Billie Piper) high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis’ (played by Gillian Anderson) jaw dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince, Scoop takes us inside the story, with the women who would stop at nothing to get it.”
The trailer for the new movie, which is based on McAlister’s book Scoops: Behind The Scenes Of The BBC’s Most Shocking Interview, features a lot of significant glances and purposeful walking. Anderson, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher on The Crown, isn’t in full chameleon mode this time. That honor goes to Sewell, a typically handsome guy who has totally transformed into the boxy, shifty Andrew.
It’s safe to say the ill-advised Newsnight interview altered the course of Prince Andrew’s life. Obviously meant to clear his name after being accused of having sex with an underage girl trafficked by Epstein, the sit-down instead further sullied his public reputation. Over the course of the disastrous conversation, Andrew claimed he wasn’t close to Epstein, but nevertheless defended the connections he made through their relationship. He attempted to discredit the allegations made by Virginia Giuffre, who recalled the prince “profusely sweating” during their encounter, by asserting that it was “almost impossible” for him to sweat at the time due to a medical condition he developed in the Falklands War. And he questioned whether a photo of himself and Giuffre was real because he said he’d typically dress more formally when he would “go out in London.”
Since the airing of the interview, Giuffre sued Andrew for sexual assault and eventually settled the case out of court. However, he was stripped of many of his military titles, banned from the use of “His Royal Highness”—a title conspicuously used in the Scoop trailer—and effectively retired from public life as a royal. Far from clearing his name, the Newsnight interview marked the beginning of the end for Andrew.
In addition to Anderson, Scoop also features the talents of another Crown alum, director Philip Martin. The script is written by Peter Moffatt (Your Honor) and Geoff Bussetil (The English Game). Keeley Hawes and Romola Garai are also set to star alongside Anderson, Sewell, and Piper.
16 Comments
Zaslav’s gonna try to shut this one down too…
Why? Surely not because…oh dear…
I was gonna say because it sounds a bit like ‘Scoob’.
I’m starting to think cancelling shows and movies is the only way Zaslav can get aroused anymore.
So, what did Harry do that was so bad again?
he can’t help it, he has no soul.
I’m not sure that’s really the right question. It’s not like Harry was fired from being a working royal. The royal family made clear it wanted him to continue in the role. He decided to quit. Asking what Harry “did that was so bad again” seems to try to compare Harry and Andrew, as if Harry was punished. That’s not what happened.And again, you can be perfectly sympathetic to Harry, and quitting was his choice to make. But asking what he did that was so bad is like asking why Tom Brady is out of the NFL, when there are still quarterbacks worse than him who are playing. Brady’s out of the league because he decided to retire.
And yet, he’s the one who wasn’t let into Charles’ coronation while Andrew was.
I don’ know what you’re talking about. Harry attended the coronation.
Harry made the mistake of marrying someone he wasn’t related to, and realised that The Firm, as they’re often referred to in the UK, was a ****ing miserable and horrendous group of individuals he needed to get away from.
I’m not saying Harry has never done anything wrong in his life, in fact I’m sure there’s a hell of a lot of events which have never made it in to the UK press that are very bleak. But I have a lot of respect for Harry for leaving the country, and absolutely none for King Charles III and the rest of those ****s.
Also, if tempted, I’d recommend no one watch Channel 4’s Prince Andrew: The Musical – I love musicals but this was a right old lazy mess.
It wasn’t what Harry did. It’s what his father……did: Princess Di. Without a franger.
um…ok…and?
Never forget, the royal family and their sycophants will protect Andrew, a supposed pedo, as much as possible. While throwing Harry under the bus because he had the audacity to marry a black person not from England and try to protect her.
I never watched the infamous interview, because beyond hoping all sex traffickers are stopped and punished I didn’t give a shit about it (also I didn’t know Andrew was linked to Epstein till after the interview came out; see not giving a shit, the Entire Royal Family Edition). Just going by the quotes in this article, it really is astonishing that this went ahead and Andrew was allowed to self-immolate so spectacularly.
I have heard a relatively believable take that actually after years of running around trying to protect the (arguable) most volatile Royal, the family decided (with added concern on the Queen’s ailing health since 2019) he needed to sink or swim on his own with the benefit that if he sinks, there was enough public goodwill for the Royals to not be too hit and that if he swims, he would finally have been good for something.Of course eventually the Crown Estate ended up footing the bill for his settlement so that likely puts paid to that theory, but still, I do like the idea of him realising the ground was no longer underneath him and the first thing he does is Wazz onto the BBC and make statements about Pizza Express and sweat.
And the best bit was that he thought at the time it had gone well.