“Scoop”: Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell and more in the Prince Andrew Bombshell BBC interview film on Netflix

Production on Netflix has begun Spoonthe feature project that gives a glimpse of the road BBC Newsnight‘s bombshell 2019 interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Gillian Anderson has joined the investigative drama as Emily Maitlis, the former main host of news evening who managed the now infamous exchange. Rufus Sewell will play the disgraced king.

Additionally, Keeley Hawes will star as Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew’s former chief of staff, while Billie Piper will play Sam McAlister news evening producer who negotiated and secured the booking and on his memoirs, Scoops: Behind the scenes of the BBC’s most shocking interviews, the movie is based.

Deadline revealed that the project was in the works last summer. It follows the inside track of the women who broke through the Buckingham Palace business to secure the blockbuster hit of the decade that led to the calamitous downfall of the Queen’s ‘favourite son’. From navigating the vetoes at the palace, breaking Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the negotiations and intensity of the rehearsal to the stunning interview itself, Spoon is singled out as an insider’s account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, two bastions of the British establishment, highlighting the journalists whose tenacity and courage broke through the highest ceilings – and in the Holy of Holies and reckoning of a man who loses everything.

Philip Martin (The crown) direct. Spoon is produced by Hilary Salmon and Radford Neville for The Lighthouse Film & Television, with Sanjay Singhal for Voltage TV.

McAlister said: “It’s beyond my wildest dreams, especially as a first-time writer, to work with this extraordinary cast, Netflix and the amazing teams at The Lighthouse and Voltage. Plays will be a moment to pinch myself and I really love being a part of this film.

Martin added, “I am thrilled to direct this film for Netflix and bring Sam McAlister’s insightful insider story to the screen, alongside an exceptional cast. Fast-paced, engaging and cinematic, I aim to take audiences through the breathtaking sequence of events leading up to the interview with Prince Andrew – to tell a story of answers in a world of speculation and shifting memories. It’s a film about power, privilege and different perspectives and how we – whether in glamorous palaces or high-tech newsrooms – judge what is true.”