1 hr 43 mins, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐

Retelling of the infamous royal interview is watchable but adds little insight.

Few of us could forget the startling headlines and glorious memes generated by Emily Matiliss’ infamous interview of Prince Andrew on BBC Newsnight in 2021. Confronted with questions about alleged sexual abuse and his friendship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the Duke of York responded with extraordinary, baffling statements covering sweating, nightclub bars and a pizza party in Woking. The interview was both horrifying and hilarious, bringing together exceptional journalism and car crash TV. So it’s not hard to understand why screenwriter Peter Moffat would see a book on the subject as ripe for a riveting Netflix adaptation. And yet, this premise has an inherent problem. When the most dramatic part of your story is an interview your audience has already seen on prime-time television, how do you create an engaging narrative beyond that? Unfortunately, while this film certainly has some entertainment value, I don’t think it ever quite overcomes this core problem to offer us something new.

The pitch is that we are getting a behind-the-scenes view of how the team at Newsnight worked to first snare the interview, and then prepare for it. Specifically, we are following Sam McAlister, the booker at the BBC who (according to the film at least, which is adapted from McAlister’s own book) set the whole thing up. I’m a sucker for a journalist-as-hero story, in which the daring reporters stick it to The Man to fight for truth and justice (2015’s Spotlight and the Aaron Sorkin series The Newsroom are personal favourites). And there’s definitely plenty to like here if that’s up your alley – the internal politics of the BBC newsroom are interesting, and I thought the cross-cutting between Maitliss and the Duke during their respective interview prep was particularly effective. But the unfortunate truth is that what really makes this story interesting is the interview itself, which as viewers we’ve already seen, and the lead-up seems fairly unremarkable within the world of news. Without wanting to undervalue the high level of journalistic nous that I’m sure is needed from the Newsnight booker, there didn’t seem to me to be anything particularly out of the ordinary about McAlister’s process for snagging the Prince; the interview is essentially agreed over a couple of meetings between Newsnight and the royal staffers. While it’s somewhat interesting to watch how Maitliss and McAlister talk the prince round to the interview, it’s not particularly dramatic, especially considering we already know the outcome. 

McAlister is presented as the plucky outsider, fighting valiantly for her story while her colleagues write her off as a plebeian tabloid hack. Though this is a little cliched, it’s effective, perhaps because she’s undoubtedly a likeable protagonist – we get glimpses of her life as a doting single mum, and the vulnerability she shows when laying bare her insecurities to her own mother definitely warmed me to her. Billie Piper is well cast to give McAlister girl-next-door charm as well as professional grit. Given the book is based on McAlister’s own memoirs, I did rather question the implication that this one hardworking journo was the sole lynchpin for all that followed, but it’s not overplayed and Maitliss and her team also get their dues.

Where I thought the film might offer an interesting new angle was in exploring the Prince Andrew’s rather bizarre character, and the even more bizarre blindness of the people around him, who somehow believed a direct TV appeal would be a suitable way for this deeply unlikeable man to win over public opinion. Keely Hawes gives us small glimpses into the uneasiness felt by the Duke’s chief of staff Amanda Thirwell, an experienced corporate operator seemingly torn between her personal faith in the Prince and her understanding as a professional that he is a walking PR disaster. As a viewer this conflict is fascinating as we question where her devotion to the Prince comes from, but unfortunately it is never explored further. Similarly, the potential to delve into Prince Andrew’s eccentric manner is never fully realised. A few scenes seem to be eagerly included to show us just what a weirdo he really is (particularly a scene including a household staffer and a teddy bear), but the film never adds any depth to his character and instead merely reinforces the general impression of oddness and ickiness we all came away with after the infamous interview. This shallow portrayal isn’t helped by Rufus Sewell’s performance, which, between the prosthetics and factory-floor royal accent, seems more of a surface-level imitation than an attempt to round out the character. 

Gillian Anderson puts in a reasonable turn as Maitliss but seems somewhat wasted in a role where her character’s most dramatic moments (facing down the Prince) are the ones the audience has already seen. Indeed, a significant portion of the film’s third act is devoted to a reenactment of the interview, and it’s one of the most compelling parts of the movie (even if it does rather beg the question why you wouldn’t just turn the whole thing off and rewatch the original interview instead). Off-camera, Maitliss is portrayed as an all-star brainiac and renaissance woman, with McAlister even describing her as a ‘superwoman’. While I’ve no doubt this is a true assessment of the impressive Maitliss, it’s disappointing that we never get a deeper look at her character beyond ‘ace reporter’.

There’s nothing egregiously wrong with this film, and plenty to like in a by-the-book way; the peek behind the newsroom curtain and girl-against-the-world narrative are entertaining enough to spend 100-odd minutes with. But the film’s inability to offer us any informative insights beyond what was already achieved through Newsnight’s incredible reporting leaves it well below the top tier of journalism films.