Gillian Anderson and Billie Piper in Prince Andrew drama First look from Scoop

Meanwhile, other images show Billie Piper as Sam McAlister, the Newsnight guest booker who got the interview, and Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew’s former private secretary.

The film was first announced in early 2023 and is based on McAlister’s memoir. Spoons: Behind the scenes of the BBC’s most shocking interviews.

It promises to tell the story of the women who broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the interview of the decade “that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of the Queen’s ‘favorite son'”.

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The synopsis continues: “Scoop is the insider account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, twin bastions of the British establishment.

“Spotlighting the journalists whose tenacity and courage broke through the highest ceilings – and penetrated the inner sanctum and calculations of a man with everything to lose.”

When the film was announced, McAlister said it was “beyond [her] wildest dreams” of working with an “extraordinary cast”, and added that watching Piper play her would be “a pinch-me moment”.

Scoop’s cast also includes Sex Education’s Connor Swindells as British photojournalist Jae Donnelly and Vigil’s Romola Garai as Newsnight’s then-editor Esme Wren.

There are also roles for The Crown’s Lia Williams as BBC director of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth, New Tricks star Amanda Redman as McAlister’s mother Netta, and Charity Wolf Hall’s Wakefield as HRH Princess Beatrice.

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Scoop isn’t the only dramatization of the infamous interview that will be released for streaming, with a TV series called A Very Royal Scandal arriving on Prime Video at an as-yet-undetermined date.

The three-part film will star Michael Sheen (Good Omens) as Prince Andrew and Ruth Wilson (The Woman in the Wall) as Maitlis, and follows the latter’s “professional and personal journey as Newsnight journalist, leading to his acclaimed interview.

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