A new dramatisation of the infamous 2019 Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew is coming to Amazon Prime. If that sounds familiar, it’s because another dramatisation of the infamous 2019 Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew only landed on Netflix in April.
The new three-part Amazon drama, A Very Royal Scandal, is out on the platform on 19 September. It charts the events surrounding the BBC broadcast that saw Prince Andrew attempt to defend himself against mounting allegations relating to his friendship with the convicted sex trafficker and paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
Between claiming that he couldn't sweat because of his time in the Falklands, denying he had ever met the woman who had accused him of sexual assault (despite being shown a picture of them stood next to each other), and defending his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after he had been convicted, it’s an interview that is widely considered to have caused irreparable damage to Prince Andrew’s reputation.
It led to a public firestorm and a statement from the Duke of York saying that he would ‘step back from public duties for the foreseeable future’, as his association with the late sex offender had become a ‘major disruption’ to the royal family. It did not, however, lead to a criminal investigation. Instead, Prince Andrew and the woman who accused him of sexual assault, Virginia Giuffre, reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022 and the case was dismissed by the parties’ stipulation in March 2022 without going to trial.
So, why is the interview being dramatised again? And how does it differ to Scoop, which came out on Netflix earlier this year? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is the difference between A Very Royal Scandal and Scoop?
The main difference between the two is the angle of the story. The Netflix film Scoop is based on Newsnight producer Sam McAlister’s autobiographical book, Scoops. She acted as executive producer on the film, and it centres her story as an overlooked but fundamental player in securing the interview. In the film, Sam McAlister is played by Billie Piper, Emily Maitlis is played by Gillian Anderson and Prince Andrew is played by Rufus Sewell.
The film also touches on Sam’s experience of being one of the few voices from a working-class background on the Newsnight team, and explores how she often struggled to be heard and did not receive the same credit initially as her better-known colleagues.
A Very Royal Scandal, on the other hand, tells Emily Maitlis’s side of the story. In this series, the broadcaster acts as executive producer, and it has been described as a ‘dramatic retelling of Emily Maitlis’s professional and personal journey leading up to the 2019 BBC television interview of Prince Andrew’.
Michael Sheen plays Prince Andrew, Ruth Wilson plays Emily Maitlis, and Sam McAlister appears to be a smaller part, played by Clare Calbraith. It will be interesting to compare the two adaptations and how they weight different moments, and the roles different people played, in the run up to the interview.
Speaking about taking on the role of Prince Andrew, Michael Sheen said, 'One of the big challenges with with playing Prince Andrew compared to a lot of the people I’ve played is it’s a hall of mirrors with Prince Andrew.
'The royal family is so controlled with what gets out. So you’ve got, on the one hand, very stage-managed photographs and interviews and personal appearances, and then you’ve got, gossip and rumour and, "The person who used to be security guard said…" And you don’t know what people’s agendas are.'
What has Emily Maitlis said about A Very Royal Scandal?
The cast of A Very Royal Scandal, as well as executive producer Emily Maitlis, attended a London screening of the series on 9 September. Discussing how the interview played out in real life, Emily said, 'Once we'd finished the interview, I said as a courtesy, "Is there anything that didn't get included that you wanted to discuss?" and Prince Andrew said, 'Well actually, there were a couple of things. You didn't include my alibi.'
She continued, 'He wanted to talk about the fact that he'd been at Pizza Express on the night in question. And it was a complicated moment for us because, on the one hand, I knew that if he included some of the stuff he wanted to talk about, for example the sweating and the Pizza Express alibi, it was not going to help his case, in fact, it was actually going to make it look worse.
'I felt kind of a responsibility to not let him walk into that, but on the other hand, I also felt a responsibility to include the things that he had said were important to him to say.' The broadcaster said that, given how much the interview raised her profile, it became a 'double-edged' sword as some people seek her out for interviews and others 'run a mile'.
Where can I watch the trailer for A Very Royal Scandal?
You can watch the full trailer for the series below.
Are there other adaptations of the Prince Andrew interview?
Yes, believe it or not. In December 2022, Channel 4 released Prince Andrew: The Musical, a biographical musical comedy film starring Keiran Hodgson. The musical is about Prince Andrew as a public figure and covered key events in his life including relationships, controversies and, of course, his Newsnight interview.
There have also been two documentaries about the interview: Channel 4’s Andrew: The Problem Prince, which aired last year, and a US series called Secrets of Prince Andrew.
How have they been received?
Prince Andrew: The Musical received mixed reviews, receiving three stars from The Independent and four from the Evening Standard. Comments varied from ‘what could be sillier?’ to ‘this musical is tasteless and should never have been made’.
Then came the documentary Andrew: The Problem Prince, which The Guardian described as ‘a deliciously vicious reminder of the dire state of the monarchy’. However, The Standard said the programme is ‘same old, same old’ and ‘gets you no closer to understanding’ what really happened.
Next up was this year’s Netflix film, Scoop. It received 76% on rotten tomatoes and has been described both as a ‘riveting drama about a real-life story’ and ‘a self-admiring replay of Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview’. The BBC itself said, ‘It’s a brisk, well-acted and solidly build newsroom drama, but there is plenty of scope for the Amazon series to be better.’ As for A Very Royal Scandal, out in September, will Amazon’s version lift the lid on something we didn’t already know? Or counter Sam McAlister’s perspective in Scoop? And does it even matter?
Why has the Newsnight interview been adapted so many times?
Evidently, it’s a satiated market and a story that has been told in a number of different ways already. While it was a groundbreaking, compelling and critically acclaimed interview, there's something disheartening about the fact it's still seen as fertile ground for TV and film. The interview itself happened five years ago. As for Prince Andrew, aside from reputational damage, he has suffered few material consequences.
However, his brother King Charles has just opted against renewing the ten-man security team stationed at Prince Andrew's 30-room Grade II listed house in Windsor Great Park, prompting speculation that he may be evicted unless he offers to front the £3m costs himself. For now, he continues to summer in Balmoral and denies any wrongdoing.
Sadly, in both the original interview and its various iterations, the ending is not as satisfying as audiences might like.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, covering TV, celebrity interviews, news and features.