Prince of wails
SCOOP
On Netflix now
■WISHFUL thinking is an unforgiving mistress.
Andrew learnt that in 2019 after he agreed to an exclusive one-onone interview with BBC Newsnight journalist Emily Maitlis to answer uncomfortable questions about his personal ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The meme-worthy hour of television was intended to end the social-media hubbub. Instead, shortly after the programme aired and the public backlash reached fever pitch.
Buckingham Palace announced that the second son of Queen Elizabeth II would be stepping back from public duties.
Philip Martin’s terrific dramatisation of the negotiations that brokered the bombshell interview draws inspiration from the memoir of Newsnight’s indomitable talent booker, Sam McAlister.
The perpetually caffeinated force of nature, dressed in all black with leopard print boots is portrayed on screen with gusto by Billie Piper.
She promised Andrew (Rufus Sewell) and his private secretary, Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes): “An hour of television can change everything. It’s like magic.”
McAlister’s no-nonsense approach to the job in the shadow of impending staff cuts creates friction with BBC colleagues.
Newsnight deputy editor Stewart Maclean (Richard Goulding) complained to his coolheaded boss, Esme Wren (Romola Garai): “I’m not a snob but she’s very Daily Mail.”
Scriptwriters Peter Moffatt and Geoff Bussetil slowly tighten a knot of tension in stomachs as Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) rehearses questions, neatly intercut with Andrew polishing his responses ahead of the ill-fated showdow.
The pair sit six-feet apart on chairs in the South Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace for the interview.
Maitlis dryly likens it to a “gunfight in a western”.
Scoop is an embarrassment of performance riches led by Piper’s spirited single mother and the duelling double act of Anderson and Sewell, who leaves the interview with cheerful self-confidence (“I thought that all went very well!”). Wishful thinking indeed