Scoop review: Netflix's Prince Andrew drama
divides critics - with some full of praise for 'brilliant' film while others
claim it 'misses the point'
Scoop, which captures one of UK media's most famous
moments, divided critics
By ELMIRA
TANATAROVA
PUBLISHED:
10:46 BST, 5 April 2024 | UPDATED: 12:12 BST, 5 April 2024
Critics are
divided over Netflix's drama Scoop - which recreates Prince Andrew's infamous
'car crash' Newsnight interview in 2019 - with some slamming the drama as
'surface level' while others have praised actors' 'note perfect' performances.
Standout
scenes from Billie Piper as plucky booker Sam McAlister, Gillian Anderson as
the savvy but sensible presenter Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as the
disgraced royal, were revered, with reviewers giving their compliments to the
all-star cast.
But some
remarked that the film felt like it 'missed the real story' and lacks the
'investigative spirit and sense of paranoia' that the story demands.
The movie
aims to capture the tensions behind booking the Duke of York for the programme,
where Maitlis discussed Virginia Giuffre's claims that she was forced to have
sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 under the orders of Epstein, as
well as the tension among the cast during the hour.
The
discussion, in which Andrew made a series of claims - including insisting he
couldn't have been with Virginia at the time of the alleged encounter because
he was dining at a Pizza Express in Woking and that a medical condition left
him unable to sweat - has since gained notoriety and is widely acknowledged to
have embarrassed the royals.
Critics are
divided over Netflix 's drama Scoop - which recreates Prince Andrew's infamous
car-crash Newsnight interview in 2019 - with some slamming the drama as
'surface level' while others have praised actors' 'note perfect' performances
Critics are
divided over Netflix 's drama Scoop - which recreates Prince Andrew's infamous
car-crash Newsnight interview in 2019 - with some slamming the drama as
'surface level' while others have praised actors' 'note perfect' performances
The Radio
Times's Patrick Cremona only gave Scoop two stars out of five, said that the
film 'resembles little more than a functional recap' of the real events.
Writing in
the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw - who gave it the same ranking - appeared to
agree, slamming the movie as 'a laboriously acted and distinctly self-admiring,
self-mythologising drama about the media, the royals and the media royals'.
Elsewhere
however, Tim Robey, for the Telegraph, awarded it a five-star rating and
delighted in its 'borderline-The-Thick-of-It fashion without going overboard'.
Following
the Newsnight broadcast in November 2019 and the furore over Andrew's
friendship with Epstein, the Duke stepped down from public life.
The
interview was dubbed a 'car crash', with commentators questioning his responses
and condemning his unsympathetic tone and lack of remorse over his friendship
with the sex offender.
Maitlis has
already served as an executive producer of a Channel 4 documentary about the
interview.
Another
drama about the interview, an Amazon series called A Very Royal Scandal
starring Michael Sheen as Andrew and Ruth Wilson as Maitlis, is also in the
works.
Scoop will
air on Netflix on Friday April 5.
RADIO TIMES
Rating:
He
explained that while Scoop aimed to tell the story of the women who secured the
incredible story, the work felt much more focused on Prince Andrew's most
bizarre moments during the Newsnight viewing.
'Scoop does
occasionally touch on interesting themes, including the impact of frequent and
ongoing cuts to journalism funding and Maitlis's regret over a previous
interview with Bill Clinton, but it doesn't exactly probe deep into these
issues,' the critic added.
Patrick
compared the movie to All the President's Men, which he called the 'gold
standard for this kind of quick turnaround journalism film'.
'Almost
half a century on from its release, that film still feels urgent, driven by an
investigative spirit and sense of paranoia that is sorely lacking from Scoop,'
he explained.
'Instead,
all the developments here feel inevitable, meaning there is no sense of tension
behind the drama - which consequently ensures the film resembles little more
than a functional recap.'
THE TELEGRAPH
Rating:
Writing in
The Telegraph, film critic Tim Robey gave the Netflix drama a generous five
stars out of five, focusing on its all-star cast.
'For all
the sensation their interview would cause, this re-enactment grips consistently
as a revolving study in personalities – and not just theirs [Prince Andrew and
Emily Maitlis],' he penned.
'A
watchful, wary Romola Garai is not messing around as the programme's editor,
Esme Wren.
'Our real
hero, though, is Piper's McAlister – a single mum with a reputation for rocking
up late, taking long lunches, and not having much to show for them.'
Tim also
applauded Peter Moffat's 'wickedly astute' script, writing that the interview
recreation was made with 'forensic rigour'.
THE GUARDIAN
Rating:
The
Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave Scoop two stars out of five, describing it as
'laboriously acted and distinctly self-admiring, self-mythologising drama about
the media, the royals and the media royals'.
The critic
said there was one 'spark' in the moment Andrew is shown humiliating a female
staff member for mishandling his collection of soft toys.
'It's a
flash of black-comic horror and Sewell has something to get his teeth into as
an actor,' he said.
'Otherwise,
the drama is smothered by its own overwhelming sense of importance.'
THE TIMES
Rating:
Hugo
Rifkind, for The Times, awarded Scoop a tepid three stars out five - writing
that the movie struggles to find a good anchoring story to hold onto.
'The dogged
art of the behind-the-scenes interview-booker is indeed neglected and
under-rated, even in journalism,' he wrote.
'I'm not
sure, though, that it makes great drama.'
He said
that while it was interesting to watch a 'broad cosplay of British media, for
all its flaws', it didn't feel like the moment was big enough to 'even warrant
a drama in the first place'.
EVENING STANDARD
Rating:
Writing for
the Evening Standard, Melanie McDonagh - who gave Scoop four out of five stars
- felt like the only way to watch the nail-biting dramatisation is 'from behind
your fingers'.
However,
while she was full of praise for the acting performances which resulted in
'beautifully tense' storytelling - particularly Gillian, who played Maitlis
with 'eerie exactitude', the movie felt like a 'puff for the BBC'.
'We're
presented with the Corporation in crisis (again) and having to make job cuts –
and people's eyes are resting on Sam McAlister (Piper), who doesn't seem at all
interested in Brexit and points out home truths about on-message Maitlis,' she
said.
'At the
end, after Maitlis has duly eviscerated the Prince, the Beeb’s Esme Wren
(Romola Garai) declares to acclaim that this is what the Corporation is for…
holding the powerful to account. Cheers for fearless news reporting!'
BBC
Rating:
BBC critic
Nicholas Barber praised the acting, but said the film lacked 'a bit of
boldness, irreverence, imagination and depth'.
'It's a
brisk, well-acted and solidly built newsroom drama, but there is plenty of
scope for the Amazon series (A Very Royal Scandal) to be better', he said.
He awarded
the film three stars out of five.
THE INDEPENDENT
Rating:
Among those
hailing Billie's performance as Sam McAlister was The Independent's Clarisse
Loughrey who said the actress offered an 'excellent performance' and rated the
movie at three stars.
However,
she felt the story lacked a necessary depth and criticism of the events.
Clarisse
wrote that Scoop appeared 'uncomfortably smug about a hollow victory'.
'Virginia
Giuffre, the woman who would sue Andrew for sexual assault (the case was
eventually settled out of court), is merely a name mentioned in passing
conversation,' she added.
THE DAILY MAIL
Rating:
The Daily
Mail's Brian Viner gave the film four stars out of five, hailing the
'top-quality cast and a mischievous script'.
'Scoop
boasts a top-quality cast,' he wrote. 'A jowly Rufus Sewell plays Andrew and,
if you squint quite a lot, you can just about believe it's him. Maitlis is
portrayed by Gillian Anderson as stick-thin, brittle and imperious, which seems
about right, marching through the BBC's offices with her pet whippet,
intimidating everyone.
'Keeley
Hawes is Andrew's mumsy private secretary, Amanda Thirsk. Romola Garai plays
the fierce Newsnight editor Esme Wren. And brassy Sam McAlister, the
programme's interview booker whose tenacity landed the prize catch, is played,
splendidly, by Billie Piper.'
He added:
'Like Netflix's The Crown, director Philip Martin's film deftly mixes
historical truths with dramatic licence. But fiction can't compete with fact.
'Scoop is
never more electrifying than when it finally arrives at the only part of the
story we already know intimately, the interview itself, with all its
extraordinary minutiae about Pizza Express in Woking and Andrew's supposed
inability to sweat. It is very carefully and convincingly
recreated.'
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