I’m playing Andrew as a fallen hero, says Sheen
MICHAEL SHEEN says A Very Royal Scandal, the forthcoming Prime Video drama in which he plays Prince Andrew, will present his character as a fallen hero.
‘The story talks a lot about the Falklands War and Andrew’s involvement in it,’ Sheen explains. ‘It’s about a man who had a high point in his life — he was the dream prince when he returned from the Falklands — but who feels like he’s been falling away ever since.’
Sheen adds: ‘It also deals with America and Epstein — how they offered Andrew the chance to feel pretty good about himself again, and how he kind of got drawn into that world.’
It’s a bold move to present a sympathy-tinged depiction of Prince Andrew, who stepped down from public duties following the disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019.
In the interview, he memorably said it had been ‘seriously beneficial’ to him to have known Epstein, later convicted of paedophile offences. When they were pictured in Central Park after that conviction, the prince told Maitlis (Ruth Wilson) that he was in fact explaining to the financier, in person, that they could no longer be friends. Sheen says: ‘We filmed it just before Christmas and I enjoyed doing it. We’ll see how it turns out.’ The psychological delve into what might have driven the prince to make that disastrous TV appearance will distinguish the show from its rival production on Netflix, Scoop. That film, based on a book of the same name by former Newsnight interview fixer Sam McAlister, concentrates on recreating the exchange shot by shot, and on the meetings that led up to it. Keeley Hawes plays Prince Andrew’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk, with Gillian Anderson as Maitlis.
Sources tell me they think the Netflix show is rather brutal in its presentation of the prince (Rufus Sewell). Another difference is that McAlister (played by Billie Piper) will be more prominent in the Netflix film.
This may be because there is no love lost between her and former colleague Maitlis, an executive producer of the Prime series. Maitlis won’t indulge in that kind of talk in public — she’s got too much class — but she did say on her News Agents podcast that she is ‘terrified’ about being portrayed on screen.