The differences between Prince Andrew dramas Scoop and A Very Royal Scandal

Emily Maitlis' infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew is getting another spin with new TV dramatisation A Very Royal Scandal.

The BBC's bombshell 2019 interview, where Maitlis grilled the royal over his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, led to his downfall and being forced to retire from public duties, sparking a new slimmed-down approach to monarchy.

Prince Andrew had claimed that he had stayed at Epstein's home for four days, despite trying to break off their friendship, because he was "too honourable". He also made the headline-grabbing statement that he could not have had sex with Virginia Giuffre, who was 17 at the time and allegedly trafficked into Epstein's sex ring, because he was at Pizza Express Woking on the day he was said to have met her at Mayfair nightclub Tramps and he could not have been the sweaty man Giuffre remembers dancing with as he is "unable to sweat".

While Maitlis instantly recognised that the interview would shake the monarchy to its core, the Duke of York apparently felt that it had gone well — even offering her a tour of Buckingham Palace and inviting her back another time.

However, when the interview aired it destroyed his reputation with the British public, and while he was never convicted of a crime — choosing to settle out of court with his alleged victim — he was taken away from public duties and his role as a senior royal.

The Queen stripped him of his honorary military roles in January 2022, with the duke also giving up using his HRH – a style he was born with.

Read more: The biggest revelations from Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview

This week, Prime Video begins streaming A Very Royal Scandal, its three-episode dramatisation of the Newsnight interview executive produced by Maitlis and the second to air this year following Netflix's film Scoop which focussed on Newsnight editor Sam McAlister's take on events.

With both making it to screens just five years on from the interview itself, what are the key differences between the dramatisations? And do we really need another one?

A Very Royal Scandal

Streaming: Prime Video

Date: 19 September, 2024

Cast: Ruth Wilson, Michael Sheen, Joanna Scanlan

Prime Video's new dramatisation A Very Royal Scandal is split over a three-episode series, giving it longer to concentrate on the lead-up to the interview and the fall-out from events than Netflix's film Scoop.

Ruth Wilson is in Emily Maitlis' interviewer seat, while Michael Sheen definitely does not sweat his way through the grilling as Prince Andrew. Joanna Scanlan is the Duke's private secretary Amanda Thirsk.

This time, viewers are likely to see the whole saga through Emily Maitlis' lens as she executive produced the series, but told Good Morning Britain that she felt another adaptation was justified as she wanted to be able to show the consequences of what happened after the interview.

Read more: A Very Royal Scandal, review: Maitlis’s version of Prince Andrew scoop is a bad episode of The Crown

Asked by Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley whether it was time to leave the topic alone after two TV shows, Maitlis said: "I don't think it's in our hands what happens next. We made a drama because we wanted to try and put in context everything that had happened. Not just the interview itself.

"The interview has been watched by 10 million people, you can go back and have a look and I hope it will send more people to have a look at the interview itself. But actually we felt it was important to put the interview right at the centre of these three hours of television and say this is going to be a story about consequences as well. This is going to be a story about fall out, reverberations and repercussions. That's what we're trying to do here, to take a moment to stand back.

"It's nearly five years. We've got the perspective now that we didn't have when we finished the interview and I think we're learning things about the monarchy, about our own relationship with the monarchy as a result of this. Maybe it was a process that it kickstarted."

Maitlis added that she felt Epstein's victims had not got "closure" from events and said: "We ask quite searching questions about whether that was anything more than a moment of television. It changed (Prince Andrew's) life, did it change their lives?"

Scoop

Streaming: Netflix

Date: 5 April, 2024

Cast: Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Billie Piper, Keeley Hawes

Netflix got to the story first, but with their focus on Newsnight editor Sam McAlister's version as it adapted her 2022 memoir, Scoops, with Billie Piper playing McAlister.

Billie Piper was the star of the show as McAlister, telling the story of how she had stumbled across a photo of Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein early in her career and had overcome an initial clash with Maitlis to end up producing the incredible 2019 interview.

Piper was joined by Gillian Anderson as Maitlis, Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew (who apparently wore a prosthetic bottom for the role) and Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk.

Scoop made no secret of having added in some fictionalised scenes, including Prince Andrew's supposed joke about Jimmy Savile, and has more a vibe of The Crown rather than A Very Royal Scandal's politically-focussed take.

Read more: 'Scoop plays like a bonus episode of The Crown, but could leave the royals sweating'

Critics were unconvinced that Scoop added much to the actual Newsnight interview itself in terms of detail on the story, but agreed that it was brilliantly acted by a star cast. While the Very Royal Scandal team have stopped short of making direct comparisons to Scoop, they have emphasised that it gives a fuller picture of the consequences for the royals.

Why did Emily Maitlis choose A Very Royal Scandal over Scoop?

While Scoop began filming in January 2023, A Very Royal Scandal's shoot didn't begin until late last year — but Maitlis knew that even projects taking place at opposite ends of the year would take up a lot of time.

Cynics might say that she threw her weight behind the Prime Video series as it concentrated more on her take on events than Netflix's McAlister-focussed tale, but Maitlis told The Hollywood Reporter that for her, it came down to cast and crew.

She said: "I think it’s hard to divide yourself between projects. I guess I threw myself into the Amazon project because I’d met Jeremy (Brock, screenwriter) and I really liked his work. I got to know Ruth [Wilson] incredibly well. I loved Michael Sheen. So it became just a really easy choice for me. I think you have to immerse yourself into the thing that feels like the right project for you."

How to watch the original Newsnight interview

Whatever the relative merits of A Very Royal Scandal or Scoop, many might be justifiably wondering whether either project is more worth a watch than the actual Newsnight interview itself.

For a wider context on the story, and of course the entertainment of watching a well-acted drama, both dramatisations certainly have something to offer. But Maitlis' actual interview with Prince Andrew is the most compelling watch of the three as he seemingly shows no understanding of the bomshells he is dropping.

Newsnight's interview is still available to watch by streaming on BBC iPlayer, where you can see the incredible hour-long episode that shocked viewers when it first aired in 2019. Channel 4 also released a two-part documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, back in 2023, which aired as alternative programming around King Charles' coronation. It is still streaming on Channel 4.

A Very Royal Scandal is streaming now on Prime Video. Scoop is streaming on Netflix.