TV Review | A Very Royal Scandal - Future of the Force

“A Very Royal Scandal is an engaging retelling of the disastrous Prince Andrew interview. However, it is ultimately too redundant after Netflix already released a film about the same story earlier this year, especially as this series actually drags the story for an hour too long.”

A Very Royal Scandal is a 3-episode series about Prince Andrew’s car-crash Newsnight interview in 2019. It’s part of anthology of limited series that includes A Very English Scandal starring Hugh Grant and A Very British Scandal starring Paul Bettany and Claire Foy. The series releases globally September 19 on Prime Video.

TAKE TWO ON THE FAMOUS INTERVIEW

*A Very Royal Scandal*, courtesy of Prime Video.

2019 is not too far back, so we all remember this interview. But, if this feels oddly familiar, like you have already watched a film or series about this, it’s because you have. Indeed, Netflix did release a film about this very interview back in April, starring Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell. Scoop was based on the 2022 book Scoops by former Newsnight editor Sam McAlister. It’s honestly a riveting retelling of what happened.

You may ask why do we need a series when we already have a good film about this, and more importantly a film that was released this year? The simple answer is we don’t need it. It arrives too late or too soon. The people behind this series should have waited a few years before tackling the subject. Releasing the series now feels incredibly repetitive. Moreover, it’s impossible not to draw a parallel to something we have watched a few months ago and still feels fresh in our minds.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

So, what makes the series feel different enough for it to be worth a watch? This one isn’t based on a book, it’s directly based on what happened and it is produced by Emily Maitlis herself. This time, the focus is solely on Emily (Ruth Wilson) and Prince Andrew (Michael Sheen), rather than also telling the story of how Sam McAlister secured the interview. This is interesting because it dives deeper into Emily’s state of mind for this interview. It gives the audience a better understanding of who she is. However, at the same time it sometimes forgets Emily’s team who also plays an important role in making this happen. And thus, the series and the film don’t complete each other but oppose each other in a certain way. One could even argue that this series might be Maitlis’ answer to McAlister’s book.

Nevertheless, this different approach to the subject matter makes it engaging enough. The series has a convincing lead-up to the behind the scenes of this interview. It also spends more time on the interview itself and that’s its biggest strength. But, ultimately it feels all too redundant. A series of 3 hours is too much for a story like this one. It drags on for an hour too long.

AN UNNECESSARY AFTERMATH

And that hour is the aftermath of the interview. In fact, the final episode is all about what happens after the interview for both Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis. This narrative choice feels like it was made to have enough material for it to be turned into a series. It turns the texts you have for each character before the end credits of a true story film into an actual episode. Unfortunately, most of this episode is unnecessary. Emily’s story quickly turns into just being present on screen without having much to do, which is a shame after what the first two episodes do with her character. As for Prince Andrew, his fall is quite exciting to see but then again, it contains too many scenes that just buy time for the story.

CAST

Furthermore, both Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen are good in their respective roles. Yet, their performances feel underwhelming compared to Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell in Scoop. Ruth Wilson tries too much to imitate Emily’s voice, which at times feels rather off and unconvincing, while Michael Sheen doesn’t feel enough like Prince Andrew.

VERDICT

A Very Royal Scandal is an engaging retelling of the disastrous Prince Andrew interview. However, it is ultimately too redundant after Netflix already released a film about the same story earlier this year, especially as this series actually drags the story for an hour too long.