Scoop:  Catching Prince Andrew with his Pants Down

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MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES:

Inspired by real events, SCOOP is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earthshattering interview — Prince Andrew’s infamous BBC Newsnight appearance. 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.

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REVIEW:

Scoop revolves around getting people to talk.  In this case, getting Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) to spill the beans on his connection and friendship with the notorious pedophile  billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The interview that aired on the BBC news program Newsnight in late 2019, months after Epstein’s suicide, was an unconvincing mess of denials and half-truths that led Andrew to resign from all public duties. 

Scoop chronicles the producer, Sam McAllister (Billie Piper) efforts to get that infamous interview.  It is based on her own book about the incident.  Scoop is focused on less hard nose reporting and more on the psychological games needed to get Andrew to do the expose.  The toughest hurdle was to convince the Royal and his entourage that the BBC would be fair and balanced.  Scoop shows Sam pulling strings, working layers of protocol, mainly convincing Andrew’s secretary, Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes) of the necessity of doing the chat to counteract the bad public persona the prince has gained.  

Scoop manages to get a decent amount of suspense in depicting the process.  Once the interview is secured, the focus shifts to the preparation.  Gillian Anderson, as Emily Maitlis the host of Newsnight,  does a credible job of getting us caught up in the details.  When the interview occurs, Anderson delivers a master class on how to appear fair and balanced while trying to get a semi-confession of guilt.  She never comes off as rude or condescending.  She simply lets Andrew talk and allow his tone deaf replies and body language to provide the verdict.

Scoop offers mostly modest pleasures.  It’s understated assemble provides just the right notes.  They gladly leave the heavy lifting for Anderson and Sewell.  And the two more than deliver, with performances that our inhabited mimicry.  It’s not quite All the President’s Men but it won’t make you regret choosing Scoop for an easy, slightly demanding streaming night.

Scoop gets a 3.0/5 or a B.  It’s streaming on Netflix.

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CREDITS:

Directed by

Philip Martin

Screenplay by

• Peter Moffat
• Geoff Bussetil

Based on

Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews

by Sam McAlister

Produced by

• Radford Neville
• Hilary Salmon

Starring

• Gillian Anderson
• Keeley Hawes
• Billie Piper
• Rufus Sewell

Cinematography

Nanu Segal

Edited by

Kristina Hetherington

Music by

• Anne Nikitin
• Hannah Peel

Production

companies

• The Lighthouse Film and Television
• Voltage TV

Distributed by

Netflix

Release date

• 5 April 2024

Running time

103 minutes[1]

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

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