Netflix’s new drama Scoop is taken from the book by former news producer and author Sam McAlister who famously secured Prince Andrew’s interview. Here, The Mirror takes a look at the life of the feisty single mum behind Billie Piper’s character
If it wasn’t for Sam McAlister, the world never would have learned about Prince Andrew’s sweat problem.
Netflix’s new drama Scoop details how Sam and the BBC’s Newsnight team managed to get Prince Andrew to talk on camera about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The explosive 2019 interview was a PR disaster for the royal and featured the now infamous bombshells that the Prince didn’t regret his friendship with Epstein; was in Pizza Express in Woking at the time he was accused of having sex with Virginia Giuffre and couldn’t sweat because of a Falklands War injury.
The new film stars Gillian Anderson as BBC interviewer Emily Maitlis, Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew and Billie Piper as news producer Sam McAlister – a woman the actress has called an “unsung hero” for her work behind the scenes. Here the Mirror takes a look at who Sam McAlister is and why without her the interview may never have taken place…
Single mum Sam McAlister was the first in her family to attend university and she studied at Edinburgh. She trained as a criminal barrister before going into a career in the media. She worked at the BBC for 10 years where she was tasked with booking guests for Newsnight interviews. Some of her most memorable and exclusive signings were with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former US President Bill Clinton and businessman Elon Musk, as well as Prince Andrew.
She told Tatler how difficult it was getting the big names to agree to appear on the BBC programme, saying: “You might think that was an easy job, that people would be queuing up to appear on such a prestigious show, but nothing was further from the truth. I had to persuade them to risk all on national television; to face the court of public opinion.”
Her former BBC colleagues labelled her the “booker extraordinaire” and it was in 2019 that she landed her biggest scoop – Prince Andrew. It all began the year before when she was offered an interview with Andrew on his work with young entrepreneurs. She declined but suggested he take part in an interview with the Newsnight team instead.
Sam went to Buckingham Palace in 2019 to meet Andrew’s then chief of staff, Amanda Thirsk, played by Keeley Hawes in Scoop. She tried to convince her Andrew should “answer questions on the hot topics of the time”. The offer was initially refused. But Sam didn’t give up and was relentless, continuing to conduct “high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace”. After several months and a meeting with Andrew, his daughter Princess Beatrice and former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis, he agreed to the interview, which Sam later described as “a masterclass in how to destroy your life”.
Following the success of the shocking programme and the fallout, which saw Andrew withdraw from public Royal duties just days after it was aired, Emily gave an interview to the Radio Times detailing how the interview had come about. But a major feud was reportedly sparked when she failed to mention producer Sam’s role in securing it behind the scenes.
A source told the Daily Mail: “While those who work behind the scenes don’t always get credit, for Emily to go out there and not mention Sam in such a high-profile interview seems pretty unfair and wrong,” said one former colleague of the two women.
“Emily was on a significant salary and then you had Sam grafting behind the scenes on about £30,000 a year. Without Sam there would have been no Prince Andrew interview. It’s as simple as that.”
The pandemic hit not long after the Newsnight interview and Sam was struck down with Covid. During lockdown she wrote her book Scoops: The BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews from Prince Andrew to Steven Seagal, and had hoped to continue working at the BBC while she did it. However she was told that wouldn’t be possible, so she took voluntary redundancy, a decision possibly made easier by Maitlis’ snub.
“It was made clear that that [keeping my job] wasn’t an option. And so I threw the dice. Found an agent. Gave up my staff job, risked it all,” Sam said of her gamble.
And the two women went head to head with different projects about the saga, with Emily reportedly penning a three-part drama about the interview for the company behind hit BBC drama A Very British Scandal.
As well as revealing her work on other interviews, Scoop details her version of what happened in securing Prince Andrew’s. She revealed her reasons for writing the book, saying: “Ever since the world tuned into Prince Andrew talking about Pizza Express, Woking and his inability to sweat, people have been coming to me with questions. I’m delighted to reveal the behind-the-scenes graft that goes into negotiating interviews like these, the amazing bravery of certain interviewees, and the strange life of a news producer.”
The book’s synopsis reads: “She is many things besides: the first in her family to go to university; a trained barrister; a single mum; a master of persuasion.”
Sam now teaches negotiation and is a professional speaker: She says it’s a very different way of life to being stuck in an office: “I’m always on the move: there’s been a TEDx talk, a fellowship at LSE, martinis at The Dorchester,” she writes.
Scoop airs on Netflix from April 5.
Will you watch Scoop when it airs? Let us know in the comments below.
