Newsnight show to dispel allegations of sexual impropriety and to explain his former friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Unfortunately, the royal’s car crash performance ended up doing him more harm than good.Related: Fergie’s latest comments about Prince Andrew raise eyebrowsOne of the people who helped to secure the interview for the BBC was former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister.
She has written a book about it, published this week, entitled Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews.Screenwriter Peter Moffat has now penned a script, Scoop, based on the Prince Andrew section of that book.
Moffat and Hilary Salmon, of production company The Lighthouse Film & Television, confirmed to Deadline that a dramatization was in the pipeline.Deadline says Hugh Grant, 61, heads a wishlist of actors the producers want to play Prince Andrew, 62.Salmon wouldn’t comment when asked about Grant but said casting agents have been approached and stressed “no one is attached” as yet.The Independent reached out to Hugh Grant for comment, but he said “I’ve heard not.”Related: Is Prince Andrew planning on disappearing from public life … or not?Moffat said the drama is, “about how the BBC’s Newsnight team got the scoop, then the actual filming of it,” adding: “The other thing is, ‘Why did he agree to do it?’”“How was it that he decided it was a good idea to do a great big long interview with Emily Maitlis on the BBC?.”In the Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew strongly denied claims he’d had sex with Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17 and visiting London.The interview was conducted by Emily Maitlis.