- Netflix's new movie "Scoop" tells the story of how the BBC got an interview with Prince Andrew in 2019.
- The interview was meant to stop speculation about Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, but it backfired.
Netflix's "Scoop" is a dramatic retelling of Prince Andrew's infamous BBC interview where he defended his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The new movie, which stars Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, and Billie Piper, is based on the final chapters of "Scoops," the memoir of Sam McAlister, a former producer of the BBC's flagship current affairs show, "Newsnight."
The story follows McAlister as she pursues an interview with Prince Andrew about the prince's relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a jail cell a month after being charged with sex trafficking dozens of minors.
The controversy surrounding the prince and Epstein escalated in August 2019 after an unsealed document from a defamation lawsuit involving Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, claimed that Prince Andrew had sex with one of the Epstein's alleged victims on three occasions. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the alleged victim who filed the lawsuit, claimed Maxwell and Epstein sex-trafficked her and forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew denied the claims in a statement released by Buckingham Palace in August 2019, but the scandal did not go away. In November 2019, the prince agreed to appear on "Newsnight," but the interview only sparked fresh criticism. Prince Andrew later resigned from his duties as a royal and was stripped of his titles.
Although there are some fictional moments in the film, "Scoop" is fairly faithful to McAlister's account in her book. That's likely because she was an executive producer for the movie.
Here is what "Scoop" gets right and wrong about the controversial interview.
Princess Beatrice really took part in a meeting with the BBC 'Newsnight' team.
In "Scoop," before Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell) agrees to the interview, he asks for a face-to-face meeting with the BBC. Sam McAlister (Billie Piper), who books "Newsnight" guests, brings along producer Stewart Maclean (Richard Goulding) and anchor Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) to persuade the prince.
But when they get there, they are surprised that Prince Andrew has brought his 17-year-old daughter, Princess Beatrice (Charity Wakefield), to the meeting.
According to McAlister's book, this actually happened. She wrote that it occurred during her third two-hour-long negotiation meeting with Prince Andrew's staff on November 11, 2019.
"To be frank, the only thing worse than speaking to prospective interviewee about allegations of sexual impropriety, paedophilia and sex with a seventeen-year-old girl is having to do so in front of his daughter," McAlister wrote, saying that the princess' arrival shocked Maclean and Maitlis.
McAlister wrote that she had to change her tactics to sway Princess Beatrice since she was close to her father and her grandmother, the Queen, and could get the interview canceled.
While in the film, Princess Beatrice only interjects in the conversation once, McAlister wrote in her book that the princess interrogated her as much as Prince Andrew.
"Princess Beatrice was polite and engaged, carrying a notebook and a pen, but she was evidently anxious about the meeting, unlike her father," McAlister wrote.
McAlister went on that Prince Andrew told the producers his alibi for March 10, 2001, the date when Guiffre claimed she had sex with him, which he later repeated in the live interview. McAlister also wrote that she mentioned the "Air Miles Andy" and "Randy Andy" nicknames, which refer to his luxury air travel habit and alleged promiscuity, directly to his face.
"As we talked, I gave it to Prince Andrew very bluntly," McAlister wrote. "'Sir, I have lived in this country for over forty years and, until now, I only knew two things about you. It's that you're known as 'Air Miles Andy' and 'Randy Andy' and I can absolutely tell you that the latter really doesn't help you in your current predicament.'"
McAlister wrote that the prince laughed at this. The next day, the interview was confirmed, and the team had two days to plan.
Donal McCabe, the communications secretary for the late Queen did not record the Andrew interview in 'Scoops.'
True to life, the "Newsnight" interview takes place in Buckingham Palace in "Scoop." However, in the film, a man walks in just before the interview starts, places a phone on a table, and records the entire thing.
McAlister tells Maclean (Goulding) that the man is Donal McCabe, a press officer for Queen Elizabeth II who died in 2022. The unexpected arrival makes the "Newsnight" producers worry the royal family will pull the plug on the interview.
In McAlister's book, McCabe, the Queen's head of communications, appears but doesn't leave any recording device. McAlister wrote that McCabe was introduced to her on the day of the interview but just dropped in for a quick greeting before leaving.
"His moment in the room is fleeting but, retrospectively, significant. It means several things. First, that the Queen likely knew about the interview (there has been a lot of speculation on that point). Of course, I can't know for certain either way, but, if she didn't, it would be strange to have her member of staff there to come and say 'hello,'" McAlister wrote.
McAlister also wrote that she thought it strange that he didn't stay, since he may have picked up on how scandalous the interview would be if he did.
McAlister didn't write anything about Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew's former secretary, intervening in the interview.
Although the movie doesn't include the entire "Newsnight" interview, Sewell and Anderson's performance is almost an exact retelling of the real conversation between Maitlis and Prince Andrew. But the movie adds the moment where Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes), the prince's private secretary, intervened partway through to get Prince Andrew to emphasize his alibi for where he was on March 10.
McAlister's book does not mention this part, and it may be a fictional element to add drama to the story.
Prince Andrew and his team really did think the interview went well.
In "Scoop," Prince Andrew, Thirsk, and his staff all believe the interview went superbly. It quickly becomes apparent that they are unaware of how bad the interview will look for Prince Andrew.
McAlister wrote that this was the case in real life, and said when she spoke to Thirsk after the interview: "She beamed back at me. 'Wasn't he wonderful!' she said, smiling."
McAlister wrote that Prince Andrew offered a tour of the palace, just like in the movie, but she left because she couldn't face him.
"He actually thought it had gone well. In fact he was in fine spirits," she wrote. " He was in such a good mood that he offered us all a tour of the palace. I couldn't go. I wouldn't be able to speak to him in good faith."
Maitlis (Anderson) goes on the tour and briefly talks to Prince Andrew about the interview.
"You know, I thought that all went very well," Prince Andrew says in the film.
"Like a walk in the park," Maitlis replies, referring to an earlier scene in the movie where Prince Andrew was pictured walking in a park with Epstein before his death.
Mark Harrison, a photographer who participated in the "Newsnight" interview, told The Times of London in April that the real Maitlis said the same thing to Prince Andrew.
"Then, he turns to Maitlis with a smile and says: 'Well, that went well, didn't it?'" Harrison said. "She says icily: "What, sir? Like a walk in the park?" She is referring to the Jeffrey Epstein walk in the park. There is an enormous pause. Suddenly Andrew says: 'Oh, I get it! The park!'"
In 2010, Prince Andrew was photographed in public with Epstein months after he had been released from jail after being convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Prince Andrew said in the 2019 "Newsnight" interview that he visited Epstein at that time to end their friendship but stayed at his house for multiple days.
"Scoop" is available to stream on Netflix.