Charity Wakefield will play Princess Beatrice in a drama about Prince Andrew's infamous 'Newsnight' interview.
Charity Wakefield will play Princess Beatrice
The 'Sense and Sensibility' actress is the latest edition to the cast of 'Scoop', which is based on TV producer Sam McAlister's book 'Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews' and focuses on the prince's interview in November 2019 when he discussed the sexual assault allegations made against him by Virginia Giuffre, which were ultimately settled out of court.
Charity - who joins the likes of Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell in the cast - tweeted: "I can finally share that I have the honour of playing HRH Princess Beatrice in the forthcoming film “Scoop” for @netflix, alongside a quite frankly, frighteningly good cast including @billiepiper @FredrikSewell @GillianA #romolagarai #keeleyhawes to name but a few.(sic)"
Gillian will play former BBC news anchor Emily Maitlis, who conducted the interview, while Rufus has been cast as the disgraced royal.
Sam, who negotiated and secured the interview, will be portrayed by Billie , while Keeley Hawes will play Andrew's former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.
Philip Martin - known for his work on 'The Crown' - will direct the film.
In the interview, Andrew - who thought it went well before it aired - was seeking to clear his name over his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as allegations of sexual assault made against him by one of Epstein's victims Virginia Guiffre, with whom Andrew later settled out of court.
During the disastrous interview, viewers saw the prince fail to show remorse for his friendship with Epstein or sympathy for victims.
Sam previously revealed Andrew had been joined by Beatrice in the final meeting to secure the interview, and remembered how the princess had taken notes and appeared "anxious".
She said two years after the programme aired: “I’d turned up to the negotiation slightly brassy, a little bit ballsy ... albeit with intellect and the legal element.
“But then Prince Andrew said: ‘Oh by the way, I've brought someone with me.’
“I'm thinking it's got to be a lawyer, please God for your sake, let it be a lawyer, and then round the corner, Princess Beatrice is here.”
“The only thing worse than speaking to a prospective interviewee about allegations of sexual impropriety and sex with a 17-year-old girl is having to do so in front of his daughter.”
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