In the role of Prince Andrew, an almost unrecognisable Rufus Sewell has a clammy, greying complexion that looks like day-old Balmoral porridge. But it’s not so much the physical transformation that so uncannily evokes the late queen’s purportedly favourite son, but the air of prickly petulant delusion that Sewell captures – he’s a man accustomed to cringing deference, something that he routinely confuses with respect.
Television director Philip Martin (The Crown) brings a nervy unease to Scoop, a journalistic procedural about the incendiary Newsnight interview in which Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) handed HRH his crown jewels on a silver platter. It’s a film about tenacious female journalists striving to bring a man to account for his actions, and in this, there’s an obvious parallel with Maria Schrader’s She Said, about two New York Times reporters’ quest to break the Harvey Weinstein story. But the picture is also perceptive on the dynamics of a newsroom under duress, with Billie Piper terrific as Sam McAlister, the straight-talking producer who managed to land the interview to end all royal interviews.
