Scoop

The story of how Emily Maitlis came to interview Prince Andrew.

It doesn't exactly sound like a catchy plot, and indeed I thought it was an extremely bizarre recent event to dramatise, but it works.

The BBC hasn't exactly been covered in glory in recent times, but this scoop was seen as something of a revelation, the first time I and many others decided to tune into Newsnight, a show that's died away over the years.

It was an excruciating interview to watch at the time, it's one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen, that scene was perfectly recreated, Sewell and Anderson were both terrific, quality acting. I thought Billie Piper did a cracking job here too.

I'm not sure whether this film will have a broad appeal or not, the storyline is a rather curious one, but if you enjoy quality acting, try it out.

7/10.

Yet again, Gillian Anderson absolutely nails her character, Emily, the way she did with Thatcher. The expressions during the interview with the Prince were so uncanny, you almost do a double-take to see if they'd spliced in actual footage! Billy was good as Sam, although her performance and the script didn't quite capture Sam's humour and her strengths that you can watch on longer interviews she's done. Rufus did an adequate job as Prince Andrew, certainly with replicating the trainwreck interview sequence but I feel they could have touched on a bit more of his repulsiveness - however, the story is, afterall, from Sam's point of view. When he gets out of the bath to check his phone, after the interview had just aired, it would have been a nice touch to see who had left the message ~ "Mummy".

The subject matter of the interview was interesting, but you are better off just watching the real life interview of this is what you are interested in. Andrew's serious character flaws are already well known and we don't see anything new here. The film tried to flesh out the events surrounding the interview without much success, possibly because these events weren't particularly interesting or insightful. It served more as a self-congratulatory vehicle for the journalists involved, I have to admit the back slapping from the girls club was a bit sickly. Some good performances but not enough to elevate this mediocre production.

Well yes. To see Gillian Anderson play Emily is worth the whole thing. I must confess that Gillian Anderson wasn't an actress I cared about or thought in anyway as a contender among her contemporaries. Her character in the X Files was what settled in my brain, so, nothing earth shattering until, well until her Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. That took me completely by surprise and blew me away. Now "Scoop" and she's the main reason to take your breath away. It's not an impersonation but something else. Something that belongs to great acting. Rufus Sewell was very good in the impossible task of playing Prince Andrew but Gillian Anderson bridges that impossibility and makes that, already famous interview, totally and utterly riveting. So, well done and thank you.

This movie is perhaps meant to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the BBC, especially the Newsnight programme, and show why journalism matters. But it didn't quite hit the mark, lacking the passion and grit we saw in the cracking movie 'She Said'.

The important story gets overshadowed as they try to make it more entertaining than hard-hitting.

While the intentions were decent, the movie doesn't go deep enough into what real journalism involves and the challenges the industry faces in chasing truth. It ends up feeling a bit underwhelming and surface-level when it could've packed more of a punch.

Not bad, but doesn't quite nail that gripping, thought-provoking experience you'd want from a film tackling such a weighty topic.