Fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of a story we all know
There is one person who comes out terribly well from Scoop – Sam McAlister. It’s no surprise, given it’s based on the book she wrote about how Newsnight secured its bombshell interview with Prince Andrew back in 2019.
And to be fair, she absolutely deserves the credit – what she did in persuading the royal to give that extraordinary interview is nothing short of astonishing.
But what might shock some who watch the dramatisation of how it all played out is how bad some of her colleagues are made to look. Much is made of how Billie Piper’s Sam is a single mum who relies on her mother for childcare and is a regular customer at her local kebab shop, all of which rather sets her apart from the other members of the Newsnight team.
In the film, several are portrayed as bullies who openly sneer at her downmarket news sense – right up until she lands the best story the show has ever had. I’m guessing Sam is on a bit of a revenge mission for how they made her feel at the time, at one point admitting: “I spend half my time hoping not to be sacked and the other half wishing they’d just get it over with.”
Emily Maitlis, played by Gillian Anderson, is shown to be an exceptional interviewer but is also painted as cold, tricksy and a bit unwilling to share the limelight.
Perhaps the real Emily, who has since left the BBC, will be happy with this portrayal? Don’t be so sure – one PR pal told me: “She’s going to be furious.”
In reality, Newsnight booker Sam spent more than a year buttering up Prince Andrew’s private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, played by Keeley Hawes. All that groundwork is glossed over a bit in Scoop, but we do see Sam using her powers of persuasion a few times on poor, deluded Amanda.
She genuinely thinks her boss Andy is a fine fellow who can charm us into believing he had no idea what his sex offender pal Jeffrey Epstein was up to.
But she has to be pushed. Without Sam, this hour of incredible television would never have happened. And as you watch Anderson being Maitlis, it’s clear that without her brilliance, it could have all have gone horribly wrong.
As viewers are reminded by Newsnight editor Esme Wren (Romala Garai): “Make no mistake, if we don’t get the tone right, the story won’t be him, it’ll be us.”
There is a lot to marvel at along the way. Who knew Princess Beatrice accompanied Andrew (Rufus Sewell), to his early meetings with Sam, Emily and Esme?
She is shown convincing him he’s never going to shed his terrible image, saying what she’s read about him on Twitter is stronger than anything Sam has mentioned.
Luckily it all came together, otherwise we’d never have heard about Andrew’s inability to sweat, his time spent not at the bar in posh nightclub Tramp or his trip with Beatrice to the Woking Pizza Express.
We knew all this, but there is additional jaw-dropping dialogue in Scoop – like when Andrew quips he doesn’t know why everyone is so obsessed by his friendship with Epstein because “I know Jimmy Savile so much better”.
Nothing can match the drama of the real thing. But hearing how it all came about is fascinating. And perhaps when it comes to who deserves the most praise, we’ll just have to accept that recollections may vary…