The Netflix movie Scoop is a dramatic retelling of the events leading up to Prince Andrew’s 2019 BBC television interview, the interview itself, and the aftermath, and one of the central figures depicted in the film is Sam McAlister, played by Billie Piper. The 2024 biographical drama was directed by Philip Martin and written by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil and features several significant people involved with the revelatory (and controversial) exclusive sit-down interview about Prince Andrew’s involvement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein conducted by Emily Maitlis. Meanwhile, McAlister was the BBC producer who secured the interview.
Aside from Piper as McAlister, the cast of Netflix’s Scoop includes Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis, Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk, and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew. As revealed in Scoop‘s ending, Prince Andrew stepped down from his public roles as the Duke of York shortly after the explosive interview. He attempted to clear his name in a lawsuit that accused him of having sexual relations with a minor allegedly trafficked by Epstein. The Duke of York’s responses to Maitlis’ questions were received negatively by the public, as many believed he showed no remorse for Epstein’s victims, and his subsequent downfall began.
Following Prince Andrew’s dramatic downfall in 2019, the real Sam McAlister quickly wrote a book based on the events (and other news segments) — Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews. The novel chronicled how McAlister booked the interview and, as the title suggests, behind the scenes details of some of BBC’s best known interviews. McAlister’s 2022 book was later used as the basis for the script of the royal family movie Scoop.
McAlister ultimately worked as a producer for Newsnight on BBC for ten years before she took voluntary redundancy in 2021 (via Press Gazette). Assumingly, she took this time to finish her book on the interview between Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis that resulted in the Duke of York stepping away from the public eye. However, McAlister was reached out to about making a potential movie about the infamous interview even before Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews was published.
After publishing Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews in 2022, Sam McAlister became a public speaker, according to Digital Spy. She discusses topics that relate to her experience as a producer, including communication and negotiation. McAlister is also a Visiting Senior Fellow in the London School of Economics and Political Science’s law school, all while promoting the 2024 Netflix film Scoop.
Source: Press Gazette, Digital Spy