In November, 2019, Newsnight, The BBC’s flagship late night news show aired a special, featuring an exclusive interview with Prince Andrew, who had been embroiled in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal for a number of years.

It was supposed to be the Prince’s opportunity to finally tell his side of the story, and to possibly allow the public to see him in a new light, which it did, just not the light he was hoping for.

This film looks at how the Newsnight team secured such an exclusive, and how the now infamous interview rocked the British monarchy.

With the BBC announcing a worryingly number of lay-offs amongst its staff, everyone within the corporation is looking over their shoulders, including those in its news departments.

The landscape of news has changed so vastly over the years, that even the BBC’s most prestigious news show, Newsnight is struggling, and doing its utmost to stay relevant.

One person tasked with that challenge is Sam (Billie Piper); she is a booker for the show, and it’s down to her to try and attract guests to appear on the weekly nightly show, but it’s becoming more and more difficult.

She has someone from Buckingham Palace reach out to her, Amanda (Keeley Hawes), who deals with Prince Andrew’s press, about something he’s involved with, but it’s not a Newsnight thing. But as the story breaks about Epstein, that’s something they are interested in, but there’s no way in hell the royal Prince is going to speak about it to them, is he?

This film is based on a chapter in Sam McCalister’s excellent book Scoops, where she gives a fascinating insight into what it’s like to be a talent booker on a highly respected BBC news show.

Of course due to the highest of profiles that the British royal family receive, this particular story regarding Prince Andrew and his friendship with a convicted paedophile was deemed worthy of a film on its own.

Director Philip Martin does well in creating that buzz that exists in a newsroom, that dire need for fresh content. He also delivers that sense of something so massive just falling into their lap, thanks to the perseverance of one booker, who knows the demands audiences have now in a completely different news landscape.

Piper makes a superb Sam, who likes her fashion and has a particular look about her, as she tracks down the next big guest.

A little disturbing however is Gillian Anderson’s take on Emily Maitlis, which comes across as more of a caricature than character study. It lacks any kind of subtlety and has a Spitting Image puppet performance about it.

And then there’s Rufus Sewell, who you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be anyone’s number one pick for Andrew, but does remarkably well, even having the best line of the film all to his self too.

As a retelling then, Scoop does an excellent job of presenting the events, as bizarre as they come across at times. It’s also a film with a number of strong roles for women, with even the token man doing well, all things considered, and that’s something that should be applauded in this day and age.

As a piece of drama however, it is a little soft, with perhaps the director just willing to let the incredible story do most of the heavy lifting, which is fair enough, but it just lacks a little bite that can so often come with the goings on in a newsroom environment.

Where it holds up better is documenting a truly historic moment in recent royal history, that for years to come will leave a stain on its legacy, but at least it’s not something the prince will sweat over, apparently.