Scoop is a hit with Netflix viewers with the film depicting Prince Andrew’s infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis debuting on the streamer on Friday.
Based on the book Scoops, by Sam McAlister, the film captures the tension behind booking the royal for the interview, as well as the tension among the cast during the interview.
Viewers took to X/Twitter in the hours after the film appeared on the platform and most gave a positive verdict.
Gillian Anderson’s performance as Emily received praise as did Billie Piper who plays Sam McAllister, the producer who secured the interview with Prince Andrew.
Praising the flick, users wrote: ‘Spent my morning watching Scoop on Netflix which documents how that norotious interview with Prince Andrew materialised – it’s utterly brilliant and a really intriguing watch. Highly recommend!’
Scoop is a hit with Netflix viewers with the film depicting Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis debuting on the streamer on Friday (Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis)
The film captures the tension behind booking the royal for the interview, as well as the tension among the cast during the interview (Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew)
Billie Piper’s performance as TV producer Sam McAllister was singled out for praise
‘Connor Swindells is in Scoop! Really enjoying the movie, Billie Piper was excellent. Actually all acting was great. But what in the heck was wiht the stuffed animals on Prince Andrew’s bed? Weird.’
‘Here for Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson #Scoop’… ‘As much as I like Billi Peiper, when I’m wathcing her act I only see Billie Piper’… ‘Just watched Scoop, it is superb!’
‘Totally awesome, enjoyed every minute of this #Scoop’… ‘A brilliant piece of TV. Well worth your time. Especialy when you realise the interview is another piece in the vast, terrible that is this story – and still a reality for too many victims.’
In a slightly less positive review, one user wrote: ‘Just finished watching Scoop on Netflix. Worth a watch sure, but nothing special. Gillian Anderson nails Emily Maitlis. But apart from that, very mediocre. 3/5.’
In the infamous interview, Emily discussed Virginia Giuffre’s claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 under the orders of Epstein.
The prince strongly denied the claims throughout the interview.
The discussion, in which Andrew made a series of claims – including insisting he couldn’t have been with Virginia at the time of the alleged encounter because he was dining at a Pizza Express in Woking and that a medical condition left him unable to sweat – has since gained notoriety and is widely acknowledged to have embarrassed the royals.
The interview was described as a ‘car crash’ and on November 20, 2019, a statement from Buckingham Palace said Prince Andrew was suspended from public duties ‘for the foreseeable future’.
Viewers took to X/ Twitter in the hours after the film appeared on the platform and most gave a positive verdict
In a slightly less positive review, one user wrote: ‘Just finished watching Scoop on Netflix. Worth a watch sure, but nothing special’
In May 2020, it was announced that the prince was permanently stepping down from his public roles.
In January 2022, Virginia was given the go-ahead to sue Andrew for unspecified damages in a New York civil court.
Despite vowing to fight the claims and repeatedly protesting his innocence, the prince agreed to pay a huge sum to settle the case before it ever reached a jury. interview, then the film.
Netflilx describes the production as portraying: ‘The inside track of the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of The Queen’s ‘Favourite son’.
‘From navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal – to the jaw dropping interview itself.
‘SCOOP is the insider account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, twin bastions of the British Establishment, spotlighting the journalists whose tenacity and guts broke through the highest of ceilings – and into the inner sanctum and calculations of a man with everything to lose.’
Rufus Sewell (left) plays The Duke Of York
Gillian Anderson (left) stars as Emily Maitlis
Billie Piper (left) plays the producer Sam McAlister
Keeley Hawes (left) stars as Prince Andrew’s former personal secretary Amanda Thirsk
What the dramatisation does not show, however, is the alleged tension between TV star Emily and producer Sam.
Sam was said to earn around a tenth of Emily’s £325,000 annual salary and while Emily would get taxis for work journeys, Sam forked out for buses from the BBC’s central London HQ to Buckingham Palace for meetings with Prince Andrew’s former private secretary.
The disparity is perhaps all the more galling for single mum Sam after Emily gave an in-depth interview to Radio Times in 2020 explaining how the story came about – not once mentioning McAlister.
In the piece – headlined ‘How we did it, Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis and Esme Wren on the Prince Andrew interview that shocked the world’, Wren, now editor of Channel 4 News, said: ‘We delivered a quite exceptional piece of journalism.
One former colleague said: ‘While those who work behind the scenes don’t always get credit, for Emily to go out there and not mention Sam in such a high-profile interview seems pretty unfair and wrong.
‘Emily was on a significant salary and then you had Sam grafting behind the scenes on about £30,000 a year. Without Sam there would have been no Prince Andrew interview. It’s as simple as that.’
As for how she felt overlooked, a source said: ‘Sam tried to laugh at it. It seemed deeply baffling that two women would not mention another, far more junior woman in an interview where they were talking about how the interview came about.’
But friends of Sam say the omission was a factor in her decision to leave the BBC in 2021 to go freelance and become a champion of behind-the-scenes production staff.
Emily, 53, has always refused to comment on the rift.
Based on the book Scoops, by Sam McAlister, the film captures the tension behind booking the royal for the interview (left: Rufus and Gillian, right: Emily and Prince Andrew)
Now Emily is making her own show based on the interview, A Very Royal Scandal, currently in production for Netflix rival Amazon Prime.
With money no object for either streaming giant, they have been battling it out for the ultimate Hollywood cast for their adaptations.
Scoop boasts an A-list roster – according to friends McAlister is ‘over the moon’ to have secured the The Crown’s Anderson — while A Very Royal Scandal has Hollywood’s Michael Sheen as the Prince.
He recently said he doesn’t want his portrayal to be ‘hatchet job’: ‘Inevitably you want to bring humanity to the character.’
Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson will take the role of Maitlis and The Thick Of It’s Joanna Scanlan will play Thirsk in A Very Royal Scandal.
As for the scripts, Scoop boasts British playwright and screenwriter Peter Moffat with Philip Martin, who worked on seven episodes of The Crown in 2017, directing.
Emily has arguably gone one better for her three-part series, signing Bafta-nominated director Julian Jarrold, who headed up The Crown and worked on Sky Atlantic’s drama This England.
However, she faces a race against time to get her production ready before Netflix’s Scoop, which will be released on the streaming platform on April 5.