Andrew’s downfall, BBC trainwreck interview retold on Netflix

The story behind Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC interview, and how he was forced to stand down as a working royal, is being told.

Prince Andrew during his disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC. Picture: Supplied

Two middle-aged men with zip-up jackets walking in the park on a cold winter’s day: nothing remarkable about that, except it is the image that helped to bring about the downfall of the Duke of York.

Now it has been recreated for a Netflix drama telling the story behind Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC Newsnight interview and how he was forced to stand down as a working royal.

The Duke of York’s association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein became front-page news in February 2011 after a picture was published showing them walking in Central Park, New York, after the financier was released from prison.

That walk has been filmed for the forthcoming drama, Scoop, based on a book by the Newsnight producer Sam McAlister, which recounts how the duke came to give an interview to Emily Maitlis, then a presenter.

The duke survived the original scandal although months later was forced to step down as a trade envoy.

The front page of the New York Post on February 21, 2011.

However, after Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges, dying in his cell a month later, the pressure on Andrew intensified to such an extent that he gave an interview to clear his name.

It went so badly that within days he had to relinquish his royal role.

The film stars Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as Maitlis. Billie Piper will play McAlister, and Romola Garai will appear as Esme Wren, then the editor of Newsnight.

The film will also feature the actress Charity Wakefield as Princess Beatrice, who played a role in the final meeting with Newsnight in which Andrew agreed to do the interview.

One onlooker who saw the scene being filmed told the Mail on Sunday Sewell appeared to have put on “a few pounds” for the role. “This is not the sleek and debonair Rufus Sewell we are used to seeing,” the person said.

The Times