Achi news desk-
Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell attend the “Scoop” world premiere at The Curzon Mayfair on March 27, 2024 in London, England.Kate Green/Getty Images
As recent weeks have shown, the British royal family and the media can be an explosive mix.
The Princess of Wales’ absence after abdominal surgery in January sparked uncontrolled online speculation which was first heightened by the release of a doctored photo, then eased by a video statement from Catherine revealing she was undergoing treatment about cancer.
It reminds us that when palace privacy meets public curiosity and public interest, things can get messy.
For more evidence, watch Scoop, Netflix’s behind-the-scenes drama about a disastrous interview Prince Andrew gave in 2019 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct. Releasing on Friday, it stars Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince for the BBC programme. News night program.
The feature length drama returns to royal themes for The X-Files a Sex Education Anderson star, who played a leading role in Season 4 of The Crown, although as prime minister Margaret Thatcher, not as a member of the House of Windsor. Anderson says the “complicated” relationship between the royal family and the media needs to be reassessed.
“Be that [Prince] Harry and his cases against the tabloids and all the surrounding truths that have come to light, or other aspects that are becoming more known to the public, probably need to rethink properly, ” Anderson told the Associated Press.
Prince Andrew agreed to be interviewed to address reports of his friendship with financier Jeffrey Epstein – who was found dead in a New York prison in August, 2019, while awaiting trial on charges of money-trafficking sex – and claims by a woman that she had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and was trafficked by Epstein.
Scoop based on a book by Sam McAlister, the tenacious producer who secured the interview. As Billie Piper plays her, she promises the palace: “An hour of television can change everything.”
That proved horribly true for Andrew.
Under Maitlis’ gentle but determined probing, the prince denied all allegations, failed to show empathy towards the young women who were exploited and said that Epstein had “behaved in an unhelpful manner,” which struck many viewers as an understatement.
He claimed he could not have been at a nightclub with his accuser on an alleged date because he was at a suburban Pizza Express restaurant with his daughter Princess Beatrice. He couldn’t have been sweating it out on the dance floor because an “adrenaline overdose” during his time as a helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands War had left him unable to sweat.
McAlister recalled the “amazing” experience of being in the room as the interview was recorded inside Buckingham Palace.
“As a journalist, and a former lawyer, I knew very well that he was doing something that would change the course of his life and the course of life of everyone in the Royal Family,” he said at the premiere of the show in London.
Initially, Andrew thought the interview was a great success, even giving Maitlis a tour of Buckingham Palace after it was recorded.
But he “stepped back” from his public duties days after it was broadcast, and has not returned. In 2022 he reached an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, paying her an unspecified amount without admitting guilt.
Sewell, who spent up to four hours a day being transformed into the prince with make-up and prosthetics, said he tried to find “all the contradictions” in Andrew. He saw a man whose self-image was forged through a lifetime of deference from those around him, and who played up to his tabloid image as a “bad scamp” – “Randy Andy” in his youth, “Air Miles Andy” in his role as British trade emissary.
Sewell said he felt Andrew’s self-image was “dependent on the other party agreeing to the idea that he is the prince.”
“To sustain the idea of himself, he needs someone to play along,” says the British actor, who was recently seen as the ambassador’s mischief-making spouse in The Diplomat on Netflix.
“And the interview is the process by which this fish finds itself out of its bowl, gulping for air – because Emily Maitlis doesn’t even need to be rude or aggressive, there’s no she needs to agree to her side of that agreement. And suddenly it’s a creature that can’t get the oxygen. “
The show’s recreation of the infamous interview is extremely tense, even for viewers who have seen the real thing.
“We prepared completely separately and, and there was no practice,” Anderson said. “So when we got together to shoot the interview, it was on our first day of work together and we started the day sitting across from each other in those chairs and the cameras were rolling. And so there was a tension in itself.”
Scoop is the first of two television dramas based on the interview. Amazon’s competing miniseries A Very Royal Scandal later this year, with Michael Sheen as Andrew and Ruth Wilson as Maitlis.
Anderson is proud of that Scoop is a story with “four strong female leads in the ensemble.” The cast also includes Keeley Hawes as Andrew’s private secretary, Amanda Thirsk and Romola Garai as News night head of Esme Wren.
As for what the palace can learn from it, he said, “If this tells us anything, it’s that the royal family should never do an interview at all.”
“But really,” he added, “I think what’s amazing and what stands out is the importance of independent journalism, to hold authority to account and at least try to get some insight into the truth.”
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