Scoop film recounts Prince Andrew’s ill-fated visit to the BBC’s Newsnight program in November 2019.
In November 2019 BBC broadcast prince Andrew’n the expected interview.
Newsnightin the program the queen Elizabeth’s the second eldest son explained his friendship with a businessman to Jeffrey Epstein and responded to allegations of sexual abuse. Epstein, convicted of sexual crimes and accused of human trafficking, had been found dead in prison a few months earlier.
The performance was widely condemned in the British media. Since then, Andrew has hardly appeared in public.
The scandal caused by the interview happened a few months before the start of the pandemic. It didn’t necessarily catch on with many Finns, but it is well remembered in Britain.
Rufus Sewell is convincing as the slightly goofy Prince Andrew.
This an episode of recent history is the subject of a British Netflix film Scoop (2024). The film tells how the uproar interview ended and helps to understand why it went the way it did. The interview scene itself only takes about fifteen minutes of the film.
The point of view is specifically the media, Newsnightin of employees. A determined producer Sam McAlister (Billie Piper) manages to convince the people around the prince that the interview would be a good idea. He also has to convince his BBC colleagues on the subject.
Interviewer, Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) eagerly seizes the opportunity to do something unique and gain attention Newsnightille. Anderson successfully plays a charismatic and hard-nosed reporter.
Otherwise, the acting is the best part of the film. Rufus Sewell is convincing as the somewhat goofy Andrew, who lives in quite a different world from the media professionals. Likewise Keeley Hawes skilfully plays an important role as the prince’s restrained assistant As Amanda Thirskwhich relies too much on both the media and the charm of its predecessor.
Gillian Anderson plays Emily Maitlis, the star reporter of the BBC’s Newsnight.
Keeley Hawes is Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew’s private secretary, who wants to believe nothing but good things about her boss.
Scoop-film is loosely based on the book written by Sam McAlister. In principle, it is quite competently made, but flat and without special insights or interesting perspectives.
An easy point of comparison is Frost/Nixon (2008), which tells the president Richard Nixon from a series of interviews he gave in 1977, shortly after his term of office. That too dramatized the interview itself, but managed to get dramatically and intellectually deeper.
An Amazon Studios drama series is also being made about Prince Andrew’s tumultuous interview. It stars Andrew Michael Sheen and editor Maitlisia Ruth Wilson.
Scoop is loosely based on the book written by producer Sam McAlister. MacAlister is played by Billie Piper.
Tight an interview is a unique form of journalism. Often, it would be best for the interviewer that the interviewee fail: collapse live, get caught in a lie, talk down, get nervous or angry, have an anxiety attack, fumble and search for words, look ridiculous or disgusting. There is always something sadistic about this type of interview.
Scoop frankly tells about a case where the journalists won and the interviewee and the communication people lost.
Scope, Netflix.