Scoop, starring Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell, will explore the behind-the-scenes preparations for the explosive 2019 interview
Prince Andrew’s damning, mortifying, and horrifying interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — and the allegations brought against him by Epstein trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre — is getting the Netflix movie treatment. Scoop, out April 5, will recount how the infamous 2019 Newsnight interview came about, with Gillian Anderson starring as journalist Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell playing Prince Andrew.
Scoop is based on the similarly titled memoir Scoops by Sam McAllister, the Newsnight producer who worked closely with Maitlis to secure the interview. Billie Piper will play McAllister in the film, following her through the behind-the-scenes machinations and negotiations with Buckingham Palace that led to Prince Andrew agreeing to sit for the cameras.
A short teaser for Scoop captures how the high stakes and tension trickled down to the tiniest detail (like how far apart Maitlis and Andrew would be sitting from each other). The clip, however, doesn’t show any fireworks from the actual interview, like Andrew’s attempt to rebuff claims about him getting sweaty with Giuffre while dancing at a nightclub by stating he’d lost his ability to sweat after an “adrenaline overdose” during the Falklands War. (Luckily, you don’t have to wait for the movie; you can just watch the shocking original thing right now.)
Scoop notably isn’t the first time Andrew’s Newsnight interview, and the story behind it, has been loosely fictionalized. Back in 2022, it was turned into a comedic musical, Prince Andrew: The Musical, which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K.
Andrew has long denied Giuffre’s claim that he raped her while she was an underage victim of Epstein’s. Giuffre sued Andrew for sexual assault in 2021, and after the disgraced royal’s various attempts to get the case dismissed failed, he decided to settle with Giuffre in 2022. As part of the settlement, Andrew issued a statement in which he acknowledged Epstein “trafficked countless young girls over many years” and said he “regrets his association with Epstein.” He also made an undisclosed donation to Giuffre’s charity “in support of victims’ rights.”