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James Mottram

3.5/5 stars
The word “scoop” – or these days “exclusive” – is so overused in journalism as to be rendered almost meaningless. But when the BBC’s Newsnight team convinced “the Queen’s favourite son” Prince Andrew to do an interview in 2019, it truly was the scoop of the century.
The association between “Randy Andy” and convicted billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein had dogged the British royal ever since an infamous 2010 photo taken of them together in New York’s Central Park.
The interview with Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis was meant to clear the waters; instead, it made him a laughing stock.


Directed by Philip Martin, the Netflix-backed Scoop sets out to dramatise events leading up to the interview, as Maitlis, played by a superb Gillian Anderson, and her team set out to catch a prince in the Palace.
Billie Piper plays Sam McAlister, the journalist whose book Scoops inspired the script; Romola Garai is her no-nonsense colleague Esme Wren and Connor Swindells is Jae Donnelly, the photographer who snapped the prince and Epstein in New York.

Rufus Sewell, as Prince Andrew, makes a fine fist of bringing the royal to life, with a clipped voice, an air of arrogance and a comical haughty laugh.
The script by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil doesn’t offer any major revelations, especially if you’ve paid attention to the various Epstein documentaries and podcasts that have delved into how a wealthy associate of Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew got away with “industrial” levels of trafficking of young girls for his and his friends’ sexual pleasure.
That said, there are some nice details, including the presence of Princess Beatrice at her father’s first meeting with Maitlis and co. Martin also smartly cuts between the two parties as they prep for the interview, rehearsing their questions and answers as if they were in front of each other.
Inevitably, familiar references to the Prince’s baffling statements about sweating and that Pizza Express in Woking will raise a smile. But it’s the exchange between Andrew and Maitlis after the interview that’s truly priceless.

“I thought that went very well,” he says, oblivious to how he’s about to become a global meme. “Like a walk in the park,” she replies, a clear nod to his earlier indiscretion with Epstein.
Scoop also takes care to ensure Epstein’s victims are not forgotten, notably Virginia Giuffre, who said he paid her to sleep with Prince Andrew and who ultimately settled out of court with the British royal. It’s a worthy reminder of the horrors behind this sensational media story.
Scoop will start streaming on Netflix on April 5.
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Gillian Anderson (left) as BBC journalist Emily Maitlis in a still from Scoop, a Netflix dramatisation of her 2019 interview with Britain’s Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) about allegations against him of sexual misconduct involving American Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: Netflix

Gillian Anderson (left) as BBC journalist Emily Maitlis in a still from Scoop, a Netflix dramatisation of her 2019 interview with Britain’s Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) about allegations against him of sexual misconduct involving American Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: Peter Mountain/Netflix

(From left) Keeley Hawes as Prince Andrew’s aide Amanda Thirsk, Rufus Sewell as the prince, and Charity Wakefield as Princess Beatrice in a still from Scoop. Photo: Peter Mountain/Netflix

Billie Piper as author Sam McAlister in a still from Scoop. Photo: Peter Mountain/Netflix

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It was the interview that made Britain’s Prince Andrew a global laughing stock and prompted his withdrawal from public life. Now Netflix has dramatised it
Scoop shows the lead-up to the fateful 2019 encounter between the prince, well played by Rufus Sewell, and BBC interviewer Emily Maitlis, portrayed by Anderson


Anderson plays BBC journalist Emily Maitlis in a dramatisation of her 2019 interview with Prince Andrew about sexual misconduct allegations, and the lead-up to it. Rufus Sewell plays the hapless royal.


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Review | Netflix movie review: Scoop – Gillian Anderson superb in Prince Andrew BBC interview dramatisation