# Prince Andrew 'Had a Fair Chance' Sam McAlister on the Netflix Drama 'Scoop'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRU8BpqgCKg

[00:00] now she's the woman behind the iconic prince Andrew interview not Emily matless the person that we often think of but former news night producer Sam McAllister.
[00:09] the Duke of York hoped the interview would save his image as questions were raised over his friendship with Jeffrey epon.
[00:17] Netflix new drama scoop Stein Billy Piper Sam takes us behind the scenes of the interview deemed a car crash and Sam joins us now in the studio.
[00:26] I watched it on Saturday Sunday morning it's it's compelling the actual interview was compelling your reconstruction of the interview is compelling.
[00:37] there are moments in it which are jawdropping um the teddy bears on the bed and the dressing down of the maid um what's the teddy bears on the bed.
[00:46] prince Andrew gets very angry in the program that the precise layout of his um soft toys is not to his satisfaction.
[00:54] goodness knows whether that happened um and um also um his belief at the end of the interview is gone well I mean are
[01:01] there actually moments in that which um.
[01:04] we'll all think really um and they were actually true.
[01:06] oh absolutely I think probably the two moments you probably think oh my gosh did those happen.
[01:09] the most would be exactly the one you've described Ed at the end of the interview when he should have been looking Ashen.
[01:15] yeah he was looking very pleased with himself Emily was looking Ashen.
[01:20] understandably you know we needed to get out of there and probably the other one there's a scene in the negotiations where we're in front of prince Andrew.
[01:26] princess beatric and his private secretary Amanda thk and I this is very meta Billy Piper me I'm not sure who um to his face calls him Randy Andy and that did happen goodness me.
[01:39] so oh Cy so the the interview itself it looks at the months and months and months of work that you did to try and bring uh that make that interview happen bring Emily and prince Andrew together.
[01:55] um and it was something that that initially perhaps you felt.
[02:04] hadn't been made clear when the interview first happened wasn't it and then you wrote your book and now there's this program do you feel that that there was something wrong in the fact that the work that have been done had been made obvious
[02:17] oh no absolutely not I was very lucky I had a fantastic editor Esme Ren
[02:22] she's played by Roma Garay and on the day before the interview aired and she very kindly tweeted you know full credit to our def fatigable interview producer for securing This Global exclusive
[02:34] now you both work in this industry and forgive me that's very rare so there was no issue about that at all whatsoever I was given full credit by my brilliant boss
[02:41] the issue for me was that I was asked relentlessly for a number of years how did this happen
[02:46] yeah and factually for that first 12 months other people involved you know later on I was the only person who knew the answer to that question and so I thought people would need to know this you know it' be interesting to know know so I thought my mom would read it maybe my best friend my mom bought 10 copies thanks
[03:06] Mom I kind of thought it would end there.
[03:08] But it was going to be you know probably go back to an old job again but just have that moment.
[03:12] So in the future when people said how did this happen there would be 10 copies of the book that my mom left to find out the to explain it.
[03:21] Because it was a seminar moment we were talking for the show weren't we.
[03:25] That the moment when um uh Princess Diana said there were three in marriage and there been other moments of of big interviews Frost Nixon you think of which feel like a feel like a turning point changed things forever changed things forever.
[03:39] I mean it certainly changed things for Prince Andrew and changed the perception of it and um and were you aware as it was happening how big it was.
[03:53] Was he well he definitely was not um but I definitely was.
[03:57] I mean I was sitting about 15 behind him I have two parts of my brain I'm an ex-criminal defense barrister so my lawyer brain was going OMG the prosecution have won the lottery.
[04:07] here because if those statements were false they were very easy to disprove
[04:13] and my journalist brain is going OMG
[04:15] we've won the lottery here so really it was quite hard to keep a poker face
[04:20] I don't know how good you guys are but you know 50 minutes of that with those kinds of answers I was basically looking at the floor a lot trying not to make eye cont
[04:30] and it really was an extraordinary experience to hear this Avalanche of answers
[04:34] and that point you made you know um the criminal defense barister you know I had realized that you were a trained Barrister but the point is I guess if you are a criminal barister you're looking for the person in the dock to to to incriminate themselves to essentially admit what they've done
[04:51] and the problem with that interview for him was that it wasn't the questions were unreasonable or hard it's just he he incriminated himself from the beginning
[05:01] absolutely Ed I agree with you if you look at the questions you know they're very fair Emily is brilliant and methodical and Relentless but the
[05:08] questions are no gotas they're not aggressive there's nothing kind of like difficult.
[05:12] what's difficult what's the gotcha what goes wrong are his terrible answers.
[05:17] so he had a fair chance to say something that might have convinced the court of public opinion such as it is that he hadn't done anything but obviously he went very very AR right.
[05:27] and the real sadness in the uh if you watch it is that he's advised to do this.
[05:30] he's not advised by you because because it's not your job to advise him but in that scene his private sector Amanda th and his daughter beatric both tell him to do it.
[05:40] show who you really are and and they're doing it for so the right reasons.
[05:49] and then you then see certainly Amanda during the interview and her face kind of seeing him not reveal the person she wanted the public to see but instead the bad answers he gave.
[06:00] I mean there is a sadness in this I think there is a poignancy.
[06:03] I mean you know yourself you've been in a position of power you're surrounded by people who believe in you usually um and he was lucky to
[06:10] have you know a daughter who believed in him and uh somebody who worked with him who believed in him and obviously he disappointed both of them so there is I think a poignancy but of course that's natural you believe in the boss you believe in your father and no one ever thinks they're going to do a bad interview absolutely there's a poignancy for those two because they had done nothing holding him to account and that's what proper journalism is and our film is an homage to that is hugely important in any part of the world but neither of them had done something wrong so there's always a poignancy for the unintended consequences for those women and what about you personally because you've gone from you know being very much behind the scenes uh to being number one on Netflix bya your book uh here in the UK climbing the charts in the US I know you've just been in the US in New York looking at the success there Billy Piper plays you Jillian Anderson plays Emily matless it must be extraordinary I just felt like screaming when you said that I mean no
[07:11] one gets this I mean genuinely with no side.
[07:13] I just thought I know 10 copies and then I'd probably go back to to working as a journalist.
[07:18] it's taken on a life of its own to see yourself played by Billy Piper an icon who's also one of the nicest people I've ever met.
[07:27] I mean you know it's pinch yourself.
[07:28] my arms are black and blue.
[07:30] I bet they are.
[07:30] it's wonderful and then though Emily matless uh a arrival look at this interview how big it was.
[07:37] complimentary is also coming out.
[07:40] have you seen that.
[07:43] have you spoken with Emily since this one has come out.
[07:46] is there a you know you say complimentary that shows that it is all friendly but it could be seen as rival narratives of a big moment.
[07:56] I mean it's fantastic and obviously this movie is told from my perspect persective inevitably because it's from my book and Emily's will be from her perspective.
[08:03] it's great there's so much interest and I'm so sorry to disappoint.
[08:05] I know everyone loves a scrap between women but no absolutely none whatsoever.
[08:09] I wish her
[08:11] nothing but happiness and success and
[08:12] I'm sure she feels the same about me so
[08:14] the paper say there's jealousy there's rivalry all untrue
[08:15] I've never felt jealousy or rivalry in my entire life
[08:17] I was saying I wasn't saying you were feeling it
[08:19] I can only speak for myself
[08:20] was say you were feeling it
[08:22] I was very revealing
[08:26] answer well it's great uh it's doing so well and it's always great to talk to you
[08:30] thank you very much indeed thank you