‘A Very Royal Scandal’ TV Review: Dutiful and Boring, There’s Simply No Scoop Here

Can a movie about an interview reveal more about its subject than the interview itself? With the recent, Emmy-nominated Netflix movie Scoop – adapted from former BBC editor Sam McAlister’s memoir about the behind-the-scenes drama that led to Prince Andrew’s infamous Newsnight interview – the answer appeared to be a definitive no, as the most damning moments were taken verbatim from the well-publicized transcripts. With its combination of starry lead actresses and a celebrated character actor gamely transforming himself beneath layers of prosthetics, it was still an enjoyable watch, even if it was devoid of substance; the best way of describing it was a British take on the tried-and-tested Ryan Murphy miniseries formula. 

Arriving a few months later, and at nearly double the length, the second dramatized expose of the interview between veteran journalist Emily Maitlis and “Randy Andy” equally struggles to find any interesting new ground the 2019 interview broadcast didn’t already cover. Told largely from the perspective of Maitlis, who serves as an Executive Producer (which is presumably why her podcast gets an irrelevant shout-out in the final episode postscript), A Very Royal Scandal doesn’t offer any fresh, juicy revelations, and will leave many wishing it fully leaned into being a trashy Royal soap opera rather than an overly self-important tale about the importance of journalism. 

That many will leave feeling this way is part of the problem; characters frequently wax lyrical about how the damaging interview with the Duke of York has overshadowed listening to the victims of his close associate, Jeffrey Epstein. But this is the series trying to have its cake and eat it, placing this hypocrisy on the viewer and not writer Jeremy Brock – a previous collaborator with that other Royal obsessive, The Crown creator Peter Morgan – for only ever alluding to this as a footnote in a drama where the focus never shifts from the monarchy. Presumably due to fears of legal action, the series can never quite sink its teeth into this more scathing approach, with the most damning things uttered by the Duke, entertainingly portrayed by Michael Sheen, publicly available in the interview recordings for the past five years. Outside of that car crash discussion, the series takes great pains to characterize him as more of a petulant child than a monster, rude to staff and full of his own self-importance, reminding anybody in his orbit at any given opportunity that he fought in the Falklands war. 

It’s a fun performance that’s without a doubt the only reason to recommend tuning in, but I’m still not convinced that it’s the correct approach to depict an accused sex offender as a pantomime villain devoid of self-awareness. Another thing that’s noticeable is how distant the key monarchs are from the drama; Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip and the now-King Charles are always ever-so-slightly out of frame, in scenes but never directly depicted, in a manner that often feels like Brock is carrying out PR damage limitation on behalf of the family, keeping them as distant as possible. It’s particularly strange considering the third-and-final episode references the Queen paying Andrew’s legal fees, a factor I was baffled to hear mentioned if its ramifications weren’t even going to be explored in the slightest, the revelation swept under the rug in the scene directly after its announcement. 

The third episode, which deals from the fallout from the interview broadcast, does at least attempt to add depth to the family relationship, in particular how princesses Beatrice (Honor Swinton Byrne) and Eugenie (Sofia Oxenham) navigate their relationship with a father they still trust even as the world has turned against them. I can’t exactly fault the show’s sensitivity to these two real, entirely innocent subjects that it doesn’t aim to speculate on the current status of their relationships with their disgraced father, but it does leave the family dynamics one-note despite the gravity of the accusations. As for the character of Emily Maitlis herself, played by Luther’s Ruth Wilson, a third episode plot where she reflects on her stalker case does little to dissuade the notion that the show is far more interested in royal scandal than the abuse women face from men. After all, it’s right there in the title where the priorities lie. 

As with Scoop before it, the performances are fun, but they’re all aiding an underwritten script which feels like it’s gone through dozens of lawyers in-between subsequent drafts. The interview was just one piece of a larger, more hard-hitting story about abuse – it’s pretty damning that even in such a watered-down form, this is the only tale in the Epstein saga anybody feels comfortable to tell. 

Grade: C

A Very Royal Scandal will premiere September 19 on Prime Video.

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Alistair Ryder

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