Compelling Netf lix retelling of a right royal disaster
Scoop (M, 102 mins) Directed by Philip Martin Reviewed by James Croot ****
It was the friendly chat that was supposed to put to bed all those rumours that had dogged him for more than a decade. The sit-down where his sheer charisma would win over the British public.
But instead, Prince Andrew’s (Rufus Sewell) interview on BBC Two’s news and current affairs programme Newsnight, broadcast on November 16, 2019, resulted in only ridicule and essentially a forced resignation from royal duties, as he not only failed to justify his ongoing friendship with the recently deceased convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but also variously claimed an inability to sweat and to visiting a Woking pizza restaurant to deny potentially damning allegations about his conduct.
As one royal website editor so beautifully described it, Andrew’s conversation with Newsnight’s Emily Matlis (Gillian Anderson) was less “a car crash” than “a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion”.
Already mocked in Channel 4’s 2022 satire Prince Andrew: The Musical and set to be the focus of a Prime Video miniseries from the makers of A Very British Scandal later this year (starring Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen), this right royal disaster is now the subject of a star-studded feature-length drama that will evoke memories of Frost/Nixon, The Queen and The Hour.
Adapted from former Newsnight editor Sam McAlister’s (played here by the increasingly impressive Billie Piper) 2022 book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, screenwriters Peter Moffat (Your Honor) and Geoff Bussetil’s (Skins) tale is an almost forensic account of how she managed to persuade the prince’s closest aides and advisers to get him to break his silence about Epstein and “set the record straight”. In collaboration with director Philip Martin (The Crown, Catherine the Great), the pair do a terrific job of teasing out the tensions within the Newsnight team (fully aware that if they make a mistake, or don’t get the tone right, the focus will fall on them rather than their subject) and between the prince’s “staff”, as events conspire to make Andrew’s “friendship” with Epstein an increasingly uncomfortable and unavoidable subject. A backdrop of royal rumours and looming job losses at Newsnight’s host broadcaster ensures the story feels just as relevant today as it did 4½ years ago.
Yes, it frequently feels a bit like a filmed stage play, but that’s perhaps less a criticism and more testimony to the strength of the writing – and the cast. Scoop showcases a deep bench of talent. As well as Piper (I Hate Suzie) and Anderson (The Crown), there’s also terrific turns from Romola Garai (Vigil) and Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard), while Sewell (The Diplomat) and, more specifically his hair and makeup team, deserves kudos for his quite frankly stunning transformation into the one-time second-in-line to the British throne.