The two women responsible for persuading Prince Andrew to sit down on camera and give his now-notorious interview explaining his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein are now in competition to bring the behind-the-screen events to film.
Deadline previously exclusively announced that Sam McAlister, the former Newsnight interviews producer, had sold the screen rights of her book, Scoops, which explained how Prince Andrew’s chat and other celebrated TV encounters were secured and managed.
Now the Times reports that Emily Maitlis, the interviewer who won plaudits for the way she managed the interview with the Prince, has partnered with production company Blueprint Pictures to bring the 2019 interview to screen as a scripted drama.
Blueprint previously made A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant as shamed British MP Jeremy Thorpe, and A Very British Scandal which starred Claire Foy as the scandalous Duchess of Argyll. The Times reports that it will screen on a streaming service as a three-parter, with a BAFTA-winning writer already attached.
It was reported last week that the company is also planning to make a dramatic adaptation of the High Court libel case between two footballers’ wives, Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
Prince Andrew was forced to retreat from public life in the fallout from the 2019 interview, which saw him fail to apologise for his friendship with Epstein, fail to show compassion for Epstein’s victims and variously refute the claims made against him – by revealing he had been in a Pizza Express on the night he was alleged to be in a London nightclub with Epstein’s Virginia Guiffre, and that he had a condition which meant he was unable to sweat, as was also alleged.
No casting for either production has been announced, although Hugh Grant has been mentioned in the context of both.
