It wasn’t an announcement most people were expecting. After witnessing Prince Andrew’s train wreck Newsnight interview in real time, it was hard to imagine there was a demand to see more about it — or him.
But in July 2022, the first news broke, Andrew would be getting the Hollywood treatment. Specifically, the background story of how that infamous interview with Emily Maitlis came to be, would be made into a film.
Then today, confirmation and concrete details. The film will be a Netflix production, starring Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson, as Andrew and Maitlis, and directed by Philip Martin, who said, “I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew.”
Why was this calamity of an interview considered worthy of a new movie?
Easy.
It’s not because of the Prince, but the Producer.
Netflix really wanted one story in particular, the one told by former BBC interviews producer, Sam McAlister, who pursued and landed the interview. McAlister already put the audience inside the sequence of events, in her fantastic, can’t-put-down book, detailing her time with the BBC and the chase for the impossible “news get” — the Big Interview.
From landing an interview with Mel Greig — the Australian radio DJ who pranked the hospital where a newly pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was being treated, resulting in the suicide of the nurse who took the call — to her role in the interview that ended Andrew’s Royal career, McAlister covers it all.
It’s called “Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews”. It is brilliant, behind the scenes flavour, and a must read for anyone interested in the (often harsh) reality of the news business. (order here)
Getting ANY member of the Royal Family to talk is usually a losing battle. Trying to sit down with the favourite son of The Queen, embroiled in a seedy, global controversy? Not a chance.
Right?
WRONG!
McAlister dedicates three chapters to the Andrew Newsnight saga: The Negotiations, No Sweat, and Aftershock.
She writes how her first (and last) dealing with the Royal household began exactly one year before the interview, in November 2018, when the palace asked would Newsnight consider an interview about Prince Andrew’s business initiatives. She politely turned it down, too much of a controlled puff piece to meet their standards.
Another request came six months later, and this time, an in-person meeting at Buckingham Palace with Amanda Thirsk, the Prince’s private secretary.
The trappings of the Palace are felt immediately by McAlister, who paints such a picture, you feel you are walking palace halls with her. You sense the impact of the historic surroundings, and you understand when her professional exterior briefly gives way to inner excitement at the thought of telling her mum.
McAlister hits it off with Thirsk, but they still can’t come to terms that will meet news standards.
Weeks later, everything changes.
Epstein.
Eight weeks later he is arrested, twelve weeks later he is dead.
During this time, McAlister did the one thing that had set her apart from other producers her entire career. She stayed in touch. She maintained contact with Thirsk. And when the Epstein scandal broke, Newsnight had the upper hand.
McAlister wrote, “the trust and mutual respect between us, and our rapport, gave me a formidable advantage over other broadcasters.” She told Thirsk that Andrew needed them more than ever, the palace position of “Never Complain, Never Explain” was not realistic.
In a top-secret mission, McAlister and Maitlis meet Thirsk together, who told them an interview was possible, and “If we do it, it will only be one. Ever.”
Then, the real deal, a meeting with Prince Andrew in person. And the shock of seeing his daughter, Princess Beatrice, enter the room with him for negotiations.
It’s a great credit to McAlister’s writing, that even though you know where this story is going, you are gripped with every sentence and detail. She is vivid describing the Duke of York, the reader will probably be surprised at how open and even thick-skinned he seemed, and that he “never made any attempt to find out what we would ask or try to place any conditions on the questions. This would be exactly the kind of no holds barred interview that our editorial ethos would demand.”
McAlister says it was jaw-dropping as Andrew, “admitted he’d made errors of judgement” and talked about his “alibi”. His eldest daughter is described as both anxious and earnest, eager to help her father, but studiously taking notes and participating in an “intense two hours of questioning”.
There were six people in that room negotiating, Andrew, a deputy editor from the BBC, and four women: Princess Beatrice and Amanda Thirsk from the palace, Emily Maitlis and Sam McAlister for Newsnight. Very different women with very different goals and objectives.
From that moment, the pace intensifies. You feel the rush of the team as Andrew agrees to talk, the 24/7 work to research and prepare with only days before the actual interview, the mad, secret camera set-up inside palace walls, the brief appearance by one of The Queen’s top aides indicating a seal of approval from the highest level…
Ironically, McAlister spent the interview 15 feet behind Andrew, sitting and taking notes, common for producers who want to remember the best material and most newsworthy sound bites to recommend for the final edit. She struggles to contain her reaction to Andrew’s often inane, clearly unrehearsed and unvetted answers, all taking place in the most opulent surroundings.
It’s only when she’s back at home, and the interview finally airs, that she actually sees the Duke’s expressions, how he reacts to the focus from Maitlis, the relentless, methodical approach. Adrenaline and nerves get the best of her, and she’s unable to sit to watch the interview and can only stand nervously in front of her television, this surreal moment, the history, the anticipated consequences, hitting her all at once.
Then, Aftershock. Nothing prepares McAlister for the global chaos and attention that follows, the shock as Andrew resigns from Royal life, the sudden recognition being paid to her, a woman who had spent her career as a producer working firmly behind the scenes.
The moment I read those chapters, I knew. This had the makings of a film.
Palace aides will likely be groaning at the thought of another attack from Netflix. From the lazy fiction injected into The Crown, to the strange self-obsessed reality show/docuseries featuring Harry and Meghan, and now rehashing the Andrew saga, it hasn’t been an easy stretch for aides trying to focus on the more stable, and significant, family members.
But if the film follows the book, Andrew, ironically, is really a side character. This is a story of a determined team of professional women: McAlister, Maitlis, the Newsnight crew, Amanda Thirsk, Princess Beatrice, even the invisible but ever-present Queen — that is where the real drama of this story lies.
How they all grapple with their own role in this saga, the work and the personal toll, the families and children — and then trying to survive the white-hot spotlight as they get caught up covering a scandal with the most famous family in the world.
Yes, it’s a fascinating record of an event that has become a masterclass in news, of what not to do in a PR crisis, but more than anything, it’s a backstage pass to a moment in history, and a very personal look at all the players who made it happen.
Whether Netflix does McAlister’s story justice, remains to be seen.