The Netflix film Scoop, which retells the story of how Newsnight landed its infamous, eye-popping 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, has a strong Working Girl vibe, which may be one reason why I enjoyed it (I’m talking about the Oscar-winning 1988 movie, in which Melanie Griffith plays a girl from Staten Island who dreams of climbing the corporate ladder). In part, this is thanks to the blond wig worn by one of Scoop’s stars, Billie Piper, which comes with a powerful whiff of the late 1980s. Mostly, though, it’s because Peter Moffat’s screenplay pitches Piper’s character, Sam McAlister, as a plucky outsider surrounded by somewhat toffee-nosed types who only finally begin to take her seriously when she lands the TV exclusive to end them all. One minute, her lip is trembling with the unfairness of it all. Why do her bosses disdain all her brilliant ideas? The next, she’s at Buckingham Palace telling the queen’s favourite son to his face that his brand is distinctly grubby and could do with a generous spin in the Newsnight washing machine.
Was it really like this? When I meet Piper and the real life McAlister at Netflix HQ in the weeks before Scoop has its premiere, I hope vaguely to get to the bottom of some of the gossip that trails it; there’s talk, for instance, that Emily Maitlis, the journalist who ultimately delivered the prince’s head to the nation on a platter, is put out by her former colleague’s version of events (the Netflix film is loosely based on a chapter of a recent book by McAlister, once a booker on the show; Maitlis, meanwhile, is an executive producer on Amazon’s rival depiction, A Very Royal Scandal, in which McAlister’s role may, we hear, be far smaller). But alas, in their presence, one thing about the Netflix production does at least ring very true: McAlister is indeed an unusual combination of warmth and steel, just as Piper plays her. Ten minutes in her presence and I can see how good she must have been at her job in the decade she spent at Newsnight (a booker, in case you’re wondering, is the person whose job it is to bag the right guests). Basically, everything is up for grabs… until it isn’t.
