We now know just how monumental that 2019 BBC Newsnight interview was. Emily Maitlis’s forensic conversation with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – formerly known as Prince Andrew – was, and still is, an excruciating watch, clocking in at 58 intense minutes of hardcore interviewing. It went down as one of the most important pieces of televised journalism in recent history, and in the days after it was broadcast, the former royal announced he was stepping back from his public duties in disgrace.
So how did the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son find himself in the hot seat, where he was grilled about his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein? The lead-up to that moment is explored in the film SCOOP, a fantastic fictional dramatisation which aired in Netflix in 2024 with an all-star cast.
Directed by Emmy and BAFTA winner Philip Martin (The Crown), it follows Billie Piper as Sam McAlister, the former Newsnight producer, as she works relentlessly behind the scenes to secure the booking. Gillian Anderson plays interviewer Emily Maitlis, meanwhile Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor himself is played by Rufus Sewell.
Adapted from the memoir Scoops by Sam McAlister, it’s set in the intense bustle of a working newsroom, but at its heart is a story about grit and determination, with female journalists working tirelessly to hold power to account.
The Netflix synopsis reads: ‘From the tension of producer Sam McAlister’s high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis’ jaw dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince, SCOOP takes us inside the story, with the women who would stop at nothing to get it. To get an interview this big, you have to be bold.’
There’s a real pace to this film, helped by Anderson and Piper’s magnetic performances and underscored by a real sense of uneasiness over what is to come. What’s more, the premise takes on a renewed significance in 2026, following Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor being stripped of his royal titles following scrutiny over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
When the film aired in 2024, The Observer gave it four stars and compared it to Maria Schrader’s She Said, the film about two New York Times reporters’ quest to break the Harvey Weinstein story. It was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. The same year it aired, Amazon Prime Video dropped A Very Royal Scandal, a three-part series produced by Emily Maitlis following the same events that emphasises the presenter’s perspective at the heart of the story.
SCOOP is available to stream on Netflix now. Watch the trailer below.
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Chiara Wilkinson is the Deputy Multiplatform Editor of ELLE UK, looking after the Culture + Life section on the website. She was previously Deputy Editor at Time Out and Senior Digital Editor at ArtReview and has written for British Vogue, The Guardian and Vice, covering arts, culture, wellness and travel. Chiara was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 awards and was shortlisted for Best Features Writer at the BSME awards.