Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell are set to star in new Netflix drama Scoop, based on the explosive interview the Duke of York gave to BBC’s Newsnight.
Netflix said the film will give viewers the “inside track” on how Andrew came to be grilled by presenter Emily Maitlis over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in November 2019. The film is based on former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister’s memoir Scoops: The BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews From Prince Andrew To Steven Seagal.
Sam McAlister will be played by Billie Piper in the film about the interview. Following the interview, Prince Andrew stepped down from public life amid the furore over his friendship with Epstein.
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Sex Education star Anderson, 54, who won a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Television Award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in Netflix series The Crown, will play Maitlis. Andrew will be played by Sewell, 55, who recently starred in The Man In The High Castle and The Pale Horse.
Netflix said it will look at “navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high-stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal – to the jaw-dropping interview itself”. She added that when she watches “one” of her favourite actresses, Billie Piper, known for Doctor Who and I Hate Suzie, play her she will have a “pinch-myself” moment.
Keeley Hawes, who starred in It’s A Sin and recently Stonehouse, also stars as Amanda Thirsk, former private secretary to the duke. During the interview, which went on to win the Scoop of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2020, the duke denied claims that he had sex with Virginia Giuffre.
Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by Epstein, who died in August 2019, on three separate occasions, including when she was 17 – still a minor under US law. She said the duke sweated heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp in one alleged encounter.
However, Andrew told Maitlis he had a medical condition, at the time, caused by his service in the Falklands War, which meant he did not sweat, and that he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre. He said he spent the day at Pizza Express in Woking for a party with one of his daughters.
Last year, the duke settled his US sexual assault case out of court, although the agreement was not an admission of guilt and he has always strenuously denied the allegations against him.
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The Crown’s Philip Martin, who directs Scoop, said: “Uptempo, immersive and cinematic, I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew – to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and varying recollections.
“It’s a film about power, privilege and differing perspectives and how – whether in glittering palaces or hi-tech newsrooms – we judge what’s true.”
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