The Crown, this ain’t. Prince Andrew’s downfall is about to be broadcast to the world all over again, with two productions about his infamous BBC Newsnight interview currently on the way.
If you’re not familiar with the 2019 interview, it was the trainwreck to end all trainwrecks. Journalist Emily Maitlis conducted the interview pressing Andrew about his links with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and it essentially ruined Andrew’s royal career and public reputation. As it should have.
What did Prince Andrew say in the Emily Maitlis interview?
After Epstein’s death, Newsnight booker Sam McAlister called the prince up and reminded him of the rumors flying about his relationship with Epstein, the allegations made against him by Virginia Giuffre, and the fact that he was known to the British public as “Randy Andy.” After speaking to his mother the queen—apparently, Andrew was always her favorite child—Randy Andy agreed to do an interview.
Emily Maitlis simply sat back and watched as Andrew dug his own grave in front of her. Why hadn’t Andrew cut Epstein off? Well, he was simply “too honorable.” Where was he at the time Giuffre named in her allegation of rape? He was at a Pizza Express in Woking. (Pizza Express never really recovered from the association.) And furthermore, the man Giuffre described couldn’t possibly have been him, because he was described as sweating and Andrew can’t sweat!
Audiences watched in awe as the prince delivered frantic excuses and justifications for his behavior, but Andrew couldn’t squirm his way out of it. Just four days later, he stepped down from public life.
Two new takes on the interview
There’s already been one fictionalized version of the Newsnight interview—the satirical Prince Andrew: The Musical, which came out in 2022. Now we’re about to get two dramatic takes on the story.
First up is Scoop based on Sam McAlister’s book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews. This Netflix film will star Gillian Anderson as Maitlis, Rufus Sewell (under a lot of makeup) as Andrew, and Billie Piper as McAlister. Netflix released some first-look images on February 5 and they seem to have nailed it with the casting.
The real Sam McAlister was delighted to see Piper in character as her, posting the words “Mind. Blown” on her X account.
Scoop will be written by Peter Moffat and directed by Philip Martin, who’s also got a few episodes of The Crown under his belt. It’s expected to air sometime in the first half of the year.
The second production is a three-part miniseries from Amazon which will be titled A Very Royal Scandal. Following previous series A Very English Scandal and A Very British Scandal, this one be written by Jeremy Brock, directed by Julian Jarrold, and has a cast just as illustrious as the cast for Scoop. Ruth Wilson will be playing Maitlis in that one, and Michael Sheen—a lovely man who excels at playing truly horrible people—will be Andrew. Production’s already underway so perhaps it’ll get to us in the second part of 2024.
So it might be a bad year of television for the disgraced and hated Andrew, but hey. He shouldn’t sweat it.
(featured image: Netflix)
