On Saturday 16 November 2019, Prince Andrew sat down for an interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis to discuss his long friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender alleged to be at the centre of an international trafficking ring.

Now, Netflix is taking us behind the scenes of this notorious interview to shine a spotlight on 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’.

Here’s everything you need to know about Scoop, including the official trailer and some first look images at the cast’s transformation into these well-known roles.

What is the plot of Scoop?

Andrew and Maitlis’s Newsnight interview made for an unforgettable 58 minutes – albeit for all the wrong reasons. Because at no point did the royal offer a genuine, unqualified apology to those whose lives were ruined by Epstein – a man he had publicly endorsed, even inviting him to Sandringham for a “straightforward shooting weekend” in December 2000.

Instead, Andrew spoke at length about his military service, his inability to sweat, his “very unusual” visit to a Pizza Express in Woking and his insistence that he “wasn’t aware” an arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein. Indeed, he described his only fault in the situation as having “a tendency to be too honourable” when pressed about his enduring friendship with the disgraced billionaire.

As we say, it was an unforgettable 58 minutes – but what of the women who made it happen?

“From navigating palace vetoes to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal 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,” promises the official synopsis for the Netflix drama.

The film will seek to “spotlight 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”.

Sam McAlister, the Bafta-nominated producer who negotiated many of Newsnight’s seminal exclusives that shaped and captivated public conversation over the past decade, penned the memoir, Scoops: Behind The Scenes Of The BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, upon which the film is based.

Who stars in Scoop?

No matter what you think of its subject matter, Scoop has a stellar cast. Gillian Anderson takes on the role of Emily Maitlis, Keeley Hawes is Amanda Thirsk (the former private secretary to Prince Andrew) and Billie Piper is Sam McAlister, who negotiated and secured the bombshell booking.

And who will attempt to portray Prince Andrew himself? Well, that would be Rufus Sewell of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel fame, who strikes quite the resemblance to the royal in our first look at the Netflix drama. Romola Garai also stars as Esme Wren, the editor of Newsnight and Connor Swindells will play Jae Donnelly, a paparazzi photographer who pictured Prince Andrew in Central Park with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Crown’s Philip Martin will be taking the directorial helm on this project.

When can we watch Scoop?

The film will be released on Netflix on Friday 5 April. In the meantime, watch the new trailer for Scoop below.

Images: Netflix