Gillian Anderson: Why I changed my mind on playing Emily Maitlis

The X-Files and Sex Education actress had reservations about taking the part. She initially turned down the role of the interviewer in the new film Scoop. Anderson is speaking alongside her co-star Billie Piper in the Langham Hotel, about 100m from where Newsnight is made in the corporation’s New Broadcasting House. The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress explains that the pair bumped into each other at a Cancer Research fundraiser at Bafta#39;s headquarters last year.

Anderson says she did not get to quiz Maitlis while preparing to play her, for a simple reason. The real-life former Newsnight host is the executive producer of a rival three-part Amazon series. Netflix’s version is based on the memoir of former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister. She secured the royal interview and was on set through much of the production.

Piper describes her as a formidable woman with an art of negotiation. Both actresses remember their reactions when the original Prince Andrew interview was broadcast. The pair are adamant that there is every reason to make a film about the interview. Both say the fact that it was women, in particular McAlister, who were instrumental in making the interview happen, is what most appealed to them.

When it came to recreating the actual interview, Anderson and Sewell learned a 10-minute section off by heart. The Netflix film, on which McAlister is an executive producer, is based on her book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC#39;s Most Shocking Interviews. Anderson had replayed and replayed the original audio, learning all the rhythms and breaks in speech. She found out that Sewell had independently employed the same technique.

She wrote the memoir after taking voluntary redundancy from her Newsnight job in 2021. She gives her theory about why Prince Andrew believed the recording had gone well. 34;People at a certain level, and I was often dealing with heads of state and CEOs at the time, nobody thinks they#39;ve done a bad interview. McAlister is equally diplomatic when asked about Maitlis’s Amazon series.

She is unsure if anyone plays her in that version. There was a moment when she cried during filming, when watching Piper recreate her old daily arrival for work. To see Billie encapsulate my over a decade, I found it pretty moving. Piper and Anderson are both regular customers at Pizza Express.

Prince Andrew famously told Maitlis about vising the chain. They are both adamant in agreement that this time he will not be watching. Scoop streams on Netflix from Friday 5 April. Click here to watch the full interview.