Scoop is one of Netflix's most anticipated films of the year, with a big budget promo campaign to match and today, it finally lands on the streaming platform. The film – which is bloody brilliant, btw – tells the story of how BBC News producer, Sam McAlister (Billie Piper), landed one of the biggest interviews since Frost versus Nixon; Prince Andrew versus Emily Maitlis for Newsnight.
The history-making and astonishing November 2019 interview was the product of Sam’s near decade-long fascination with Prince Andrew’s involvement in the sex-trafficking scandal surrounding the convicted sex offenders, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, both former friends of the prince. (Prince Andrew has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing.)
Based on Sam’s book Scoops, the film follows single mum Sam through the rigours of BBC internal politics and the dog-eat-dog world of TV news journalism as she defies all expectations and helps to convince the Palace and Prince Andrew to be grilled by the corporation’s most notorious of journalists - Emily Maitlis.
It’s a thrilling portrayal of the behind-the-scenes drama that led to Prince Andrew’s rapid fall from grace, forcing him to retire from royal duties, be stripped of all his royal titles and later, settle out of court paying a reported £12million to Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims.
The cast of Scoop is stellar with Gillian Anderson portraying the forensic and formidable Emily Maitlis; Rufus Sewell an almost grotesque and naive Prince Andrew with Keeley Hawes as Andrew’s enamoured and blinkered private secretary, Amanda Thirsk and Romola Garai as the unflappable Newsnight Editor, Esme Wren.
And of course, at the centre of it all, is Billie Piper’s superb performance as Sam McAlister complete with her trademark peroxide blonde perm, penchant for Chanel jewellery and black leather trousers.
It's not only bloody brilliant, it's all about the power of women.
“I think Sam McAlister needs her day in the sun,” Billie tells GLAMOUR, “because I feel like this Newsnight interview is very much the catalyst to everything that followed afterwards.”
In the latest episode of GLAMOUR Unfiltered, we catch up with Billie to discuss all things Scoop, what makes her empowered, how she deals with imposter syndrome and the power of sisterhood and women coming together.
At one point in Scoop, Sam's mum asks, "Sam, does this interview matter," to which Sam obviously says, "Yes, it does." So why do you think that interview matters so much, and why do you think it's so important to have been made into this film?
I think the film is very important for a number of reasons. I think the women behind this story, the inner workings of Newsnight and journalism, we have to shine a light on that, especially with a subject like this.
I think it is an incredible feat, and there are unsung heroes in this story, and I feel like Sam McAlister, particularly, the booker from Newsnight, she's the character I play, I think she needs her day in the sun, because I feel like this Newsnight interview is very much the catalyst to everything that followed afterwards. So for me, it feels like a very important film.
You've said that you were obsessed with the [Epstein/ Prince Andrew] story, and furious about it. How did you use that fury you felt to inform your role?
Yeah, I followed the Epstein-Maxwell story very closely and Prince Andrew's story very closely. I've watched all the documentaries, all brilliant documentaries. I've read a great deal about all of it.
So when the offer came through to read the script, it piqued my interest immediately. I didn't anticipate that I would learn this much about the woman behind it. I was intrigued about how we were going to dramatize a story that we'd all really, in part, seen the interview. Everyone had seen a version of the interview, whether it was memed or a YouTube clip, or just the viral nature of the interview. So it felt paramount to be part of that, and it really just set me alight.
Female empowerment is at the heart of the film in many ways. When do you feel empowered?
I feel empowered when I've been able to have healthy communications with people. I feel empowered when I've had a really wonderful day with my children, as in when everything's gone to plan, which very rarely happens, but I get a real sense of achievement from that, I suppose, just spending meaningful time with them.
I feel empowered when I take time for myself and I can be peaceful with myself and I can be self-soothing, I suppose. These are all things I've learned way too late in life, but they're happening.
And I feel empowered when people respond well to the work that I do and the stories that I choose to be a part of and/or tell.
How do you think that the film - which is really funny at times - managed to strike that fine balance of humour whilst also talking to the very serious crimes at the heart of it and respecting the victims?
I wouldn't want the job of director on this film because I think coasting the line of drama, bits of comedy, but I think very much the comedy comes from the disbelief and the surreal nature of how people behave within the story.
It was a concern of mine, as an actor, going in. I'm sure it was a concern for the team, broadly speaking, but I think it worked really well. And I think it works because you are following the emotional journeys of the women involved, so you've got something to relate to and attach yourself to.
So the idea of the interview doesn't feel like this elusive concept that people just see through their TV screens. You're understanding the way these people work, why they behave the way they do, their emotional attachments to their parents, their children.
So I feel like that grounds the piece, so you're not on the ceiling, and it's not all about laughter. It's appropriate laughter when it is. It's very much the story of the women behind the interview, the journalism, and not so much a story about the victims or about Epstein or Maxwell, and I hope that's covered elsewhere. But I think we felt a responsibility to take a line on it and not dip in and out of the harder parts of this. And so the focus from the get-go was really Sam's story and account of real life events.
Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew is more proof that women should not – and will not – be silenced on abuse.
Obviously the three characters at the heart of the journalism, they're very different: the editor, yourself (Sam), and Emily Maitlis's character. But I do think that they form a sisterhood of sorts by the time the interview takes place. Would you say that that's accurate?
Yeah, I feel it's accurate that it's not a disingenuous portrayal of women working in that industry. I get the sense from what I've learned is that it's all women really, I think it's hard work being a journalist, and I think it can be very dog eat dog, and they're all bringing something very different to the story, but they're integral as a three/four piece, and it's their power combined that make getting this interview on our screens. I feel like if there was one missing woman, one missing component, it wouldn't have been as successful as it was.
And what does sisterhood mean to you? And have there ever been times in your life where you've lent on sisterhood?
Obviously sisterhood is such a big part of the success of being a woman, I suppose. I feel like you sometimes think that you don't need that in this world that we live in, where everything moves so fast and you're focused on your domestic life and your work life, so the friendship sometimes feels like something that you can let go of, or at least that's the illusion. When, actually, it really is the backbone, just so much of your strength.
So I really value it, although I sometimes neglect it if I'm honest, and have recently spent a huge time with my sisters, both my real sisters and my friendship group. And it was really, really soulful and fruitful and something that I need to just be part of way more, this feeling of love and joy and togetherness, and having people reflect back at you parts of your personality, good parts of your personality that you maybe don't have access to yourself as easily.
All the women in this film are ambitious, but it seems to be something that often holds Sam back, perhaps because of her position in the pecking order at Newsnight? Ambition is something that's often seen as a negative trait in women, why do you think this is? Have you ever experienced any situations where ambition has been seen as a negative thing for you?
Yeah, I've had people say negative things about my ambition to my face in relation to my ambitions. So yeah, I've experienced that a lot. I don't really know a woman who hasn't experienced someone using that against her. I'm hoping that narrative is changing, but I still think we've probably got a way to go.
And do you think there's ever been a time where you felt you've had imposter syndrome or not?
Oh my God, yes. Yes, oh my God. I think until about nine years ago, I always felt I always had imposter syndrome around my acting. Before that, when I was a singer, that's all I experienced. I felt like such a charlatan in that industry because it wasn't my first love, and it wasn't something, even though I was a huge fan of music, it wasn't my gift. I can sometimes feel like an imposter, I don't know, anywhere, is something I have to really work hard on. Yeah, it's a problem.
How do you work on it? What are the things you do to combat it?
I think the best way to combat it is to... I hate this sentence. I don't know why I hate this sentence, I shouldn't hate the sentence, it sounds a bit glib, but I think the more you start to show love and care to yourself, those feelings of being an imposter or a charlatan or less than or a fake, I think they start to lessen.
But I also wonder if that's in combination with age, where there's enough historical evidence to show that you have done something well, and it isn't just a flash in the pan. It's something that you've worked really hard at and have been successful for reasons that aren't you being an imposter.
Finally, what have you learned about the Royal Family and the class system in this country, and toxic privilege through this film?
I have to say, I don't feel like I've learned anything that I didn't already know about my thoughts and feelings around privilege, and what it must be to... I can't say I have the lived experience of a Royal, I really don't. But I have thought a lot about how that must feel, and everything I've read about since and everything I've learned since, supports those instincts. So I'm just thinking if there's anything? No, I think in many ways don't think I've learned anything! I'm just thinking if that's true, but when I watched the interview, I was shocked. When I acted through the interview, I was shocked, and I'm still open-mouthed at how that got made, how it got through, how it cut across, how it fell apart. I just feel like the whole thing is one big why? How? All of that.
Scoop is streaming on Netflix now
For more from GLAMOUR's Assistant Editor and Entertainment Director, Emily Maddick, follow her on Instagram on @emilymaddick
