Billie Piper has showered BBC Newsnight’s Sam McAlister with praise after the success of the Netflix drama, Scoop.
The actress is seen playing Sam, a former Newsnight interview booker who was responsible for securing Prince Andrew’s infamous 2019 interview on the programme. Following months of negations with Andrew’s former private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, Sam secured the interview which would bring his life as a working royal to an end.
During the rare chat, the Duke of York, 64, sat down with Emily Maitlis and denied allegations made against him. Virginia Guiffre claimed she had sex with Queen Elizabeth’s favourite son on three occasions when she was just 17. The Duke denies the allegations and following a lawsuit, he has since paid an unknown sum to Guiffre in an out-of-court settlement, on no admission of liability.
Last week, Netflix released a drama, Scoop, about the car crash interview, showing the behind-the-scenes of the chat as well as preparing for the interview and how Sam became the first point of call for royal aides.
Speaking in a new interview, Billie said of taking the role of former criminal defence barrister Sam: “I realised, ‘Oh my God, there are these unsung women behind the story’.” She went on to tell The Independent: “I think she was the reason this happened. And it’s slightly depressing that no one really knew anything about her.”
The actress and former singer continued: “We have very similar backgrounds. Spent a great deal of time around middle-class professionals. Had to find a way to be taken seriously in amongst all of that. We have these sort of uncompromising parts of our personality.”
Scoop also documents Sam’s determination to secure the world exclusive, while being a single mum to her young son and juggling the high-pressure job at the same time the BBC announced they would be cutting hundreds of jobs across the board. Speaking about the interview, Sam told Good Morning Britain: “I was sitting about 15 feet behind him. I had two parts of my brain. I’m an ex-criminal defence barrister, so my lawyer brain was going ‘OMG the prosecution has won the lottery here,'” before adding that her journalism brain was saying “OMG we’ve won the lottery”.
Addressing her actions while filming in Buckingham Palace, she said she was “basically looking at the floor a lot, trying not to make eye contact. It really was an extraordinary experience to hear this avalanche of answers.”
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or by calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.
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