As production gets underway for Netflix’s dalliance with the behind-the-scenes account of the ‘news interview of the decade’ with Prince Andrew, ‘Scoop,’ Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Rufus Sewell and Billie Piper have been added to the cast.
Based on former Newsnight Producer Sam McAlister’s memoir Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews.
The logline reads 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 rehearsal intensity – 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.
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Gillian Anderson (Sex Education, The Crown) joins as Emily Maitlis, Newsnight’s former lead presenter who conducted the now infamous television exchange. Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, It’s a Sin, Stonehouse) stars as Amanda Thirsk, former Private Secretary to Prince Andrew. Billie Piper(I Hate Suzie, Collateral, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) stars as Sam McAlister, who negotiated and secured the bombshell booking. Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) stars as Prince Andrew.
Emmy and BAFTA winner Philip Martin (The Crown, Prime Suspect, Wallander, Mo) directs the project. The project is produced by Hilary Salmon and Radford Neville (Luther, The Night Of, MotherFatherSon) for The Lighthouse Film & Television, with Sanjay Singhal (Bin Laden: The Road to 9/11, Trouble at Topshop) for Voltage TV.
