April 2, 2024
Today at
13:48
A few years ago, British Prince Andrew gave a much-discussed interview to the BBC about his ties with American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The tight Netflix drama ‘Scoop’ reconstructs what that caused.
At the end of 2019, both the BBC news service and the British royal family were in dire straits. The British public broadcaster announced that a round of cuts was coming and that it would cost 450 jobs. Buckingham Palace was fed up with the long-standing friendship between Prince Andrew and American investor and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On November 14 of that year, the broadcaster and the royal family met for a high-profile interview, each with their own agenda. The current affairs program ‘BBC Newsnight’ wanted to show that it was still socially relevant and Prince Andrew saw an opportunity to brighten up his image and debunk the rumors that he was one of the rich people who liked to take advantage of the young women in which Epstein could provided.
Prince Andrew was more concerned about his teddy bear collection than the girls in Epstein’s collection.
The Netflix film ‘Scoop’ shows how the meeting came about, how the interview went and what the aftermath was. The central figures besides the prince (played by Rufus Sewell) are three women: Andrew’s personal assistant Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes), interviewer Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) and producer-booking manager Sam McAlister (Billie Piper). The film is also based on the latter’s book.
The director, Philip Martin, previously directed seven episodes from the first two seasons of ‘The Crown’. He continues the style and tone of that series about the royal family in ‘Scoop’, to such an extent that you can consider the film as a cousin of the series.
You can also see him as a reflection of British society, where there is still a strong class consciousness. Sam is not taken seriously at the BBC because she is lowbrow and prefers to read newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail. But that’s precisely why she has the instinct to go after the scope. At the same time, the film underlines how out of touch the royal family has with the values and standards of the citizen. Put another way, Andrew was more concerned about his teddy bear collection than the girls in Epstein’s collection.
‘Scoop’ is available on Netflix from Friday.
