Prince Andrew’s illuminating Newsnight interview has been described as “a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion”.
Just six months after its November 2019 broadcast, the Queen’s third child announced he would be stepping down from performing royal duties (he strenuously denies all wrongdoing).
His revelatory and perplexing comments – about sweating, a Pizza Hut in Woking and his “tendency to be too honourable” – made front page news around the world, and the interview’s consequences continued to reverberate for months.
“He lost a lot from doing that interview,” said Emily Maitlis later. “My intention was not to ruin his life. That was not on my radar.”
Now the story of how the bombshell interview came about has been turned into a Netflix film, Scoop. Based on the account by producer Sam McAlister, who clinched the interview, the series stars Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell as Maitlis and the Prince.
Find out more about the actors and the characters they’re playing here. To see how the costume department utterly transformed the well-known actors into the public figures, take a look below.
Gillian Anderson plays Emily Maitlis
“I’ve been a big fan for a while, so it was a joy to step into her shoes,” said Anderson about playing Maitlis.
“Costumes for me are always an invaluable element of putting a character together,” she said to the Standard. “You know, getting to walk in the shoes that Emily wears: these great knee-high suede boots over her jeans.”
Rufus Sewell plays Prince Andrew
Speaking to Radio Times, Sewell said he prepared for the role by “obsessively” rewatching the Newsnight interview, consulting with FBI body language experts and dressing up as Prince Andrew. It took the actor around four hours to physically transform into the duke.
Billy Piper plays Newsnight booker Sam McAlister
“People really want to see tales about women doing their job in difficult circumstances and of course for this hugely important outcome,” said McAlister to the Standard. “[It’s also an] incredible moment of accountability for the other important women in this film, who of course were the victims of crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.”
Romola Garai plays Newsnight editor Esmé Wren
“Often I’m a bit suspicious of true crime and adaptations of things that have happened very recently. I’m very wary of voyeurism,” said Garai in a recent interview.
“But I felt when I read the script that [Prince] Andrew and that story seem to have slightly gone away. So I was very interested in being part of something that put it back on the table. Essentially, at the centre of it, there’s this man who thinks he’s untouchable and it’s about journalists doing their job to dismantle this power structure, rather than propping it up.”
Charity Wakefield plays Princess Beatrice
“I can finally share that I have the honour of playing HRH Princess Beatrice in the forthcoming film “Scoop” for @netflixuk, alongside a quite frankly, frighteningly good cast,” said Wakefield on Instagram last March.
“Huge thanks to [casting director] #NinaGold for bringing me along for this interesting and challenging piece.”
Keeley Hawes plays Prince Andrew’s private secretary at the time, Amanda Thirsk
Veteran actress Keeley Hawes will be stepping into the shoes of Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s private secretary with whom McAlister worked with to secure the interview.
