Former Newsnight producer \u2013 and subject of new Netflix film Scoop \u2013 Sam McAlister reveals her first-hand experience of negotiating the seismic interview. <\/p>
This article was originally published in Radio Times<\/strong> magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n Nothing prepares you for going to Buckingham Palace to meet a member of the royal family to discuss his friendship with a convicted sex offender. But, in November 2019, as I waited outside the gates of Buckingham Palace, scrambling for my BBC ID \u2013 and for a modicum of calm \u2013 that\u2019s exactly what I was composing myself for.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This final face-to-face negotiation with Prince Andrew, and a surprise guest (his daughter, Princess Beatrice), was the culmination of over a year of contact with the Palace. Primarily conducted with Prince Andrew\u2019s chief of staff, Amanda Thirsk, the negotiation was conducted painstakingly over many months.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It started, innocently enough, with an email in my inbox from a PR inviting us to do a \u201cpuff piece\u201d (industry speak for an item that doesn\u2019t allow any news questions) about the Duke of York and his charitable work with young entrepreneurs. We declined that offer. We don\u2019t do those at Newsnight. And then, a few months later, came an invitation to the Palace to meet Amanda (I was so certain they\u2019d say no that I didn\u2019t even tell my boss, Esme Wren).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The negotiation went great. Amanda was clever, calm, direct and frank. An interview was on the table. But there was a red line \u2013 no questions about Jeffrey Epstein. And so, even though at that stage (May 2019) it wasn\u2019t the huge story that it became, we declined again. No interview.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But then, things changed dramatically. Epstein was arrested, charged, awaiting trial, dead. Ghislaine Maxwell, his partner in heinous sexual crimes, was finally tracked down, arrested too. And the light was shining on Prince Andrew and the allegations made against him of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, allegations that he still denies, but which were casting a shadow over his life, and the reputation of the entire royal family.<\/span><\/p> And so, here we were, over a year later. Myself, Emily Maitlis and Newsnight\u2019s deputy editor, Stewart Maclean, across the table from the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice and Amanda Thirsk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How on earth did you persuade him to do it is the question I am always asked. And, in truth, I will never know for certain. But my job \u2013 booking high-profile interviewees for Newsnight (from Elon Musk to Justin Trudeau) \u2013 taught me to find the \u201csweet spot\u201d. And, in my view, Prince Andrew wanted to return to public life, to the many privileges he had once enjoyed.<\/span><\/p>\n He wanted to vindicate himself, and to be able to walk his daughter, Beatrice, down the aisle, to live the charmed life he had enjoyed before his damning association with Epstein. He needed, I said, to speak to the nation, to change the narrative. It was up to him to give a convincing account of himself. To change the perception of his guilt. Clearly, he thought he could do that. Of course, we now know he couldn\u2019t. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And so, he said yes and just three days later, I was sitting 15 feet behind him in Buckingham Palace, with Emily in my line of sight, listening to almost an hour of some of the most memorable, excruciating and impactful interview questions and answers in the history of BBC journalism.<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n At the end of the interview, you might assume that Prince Andrew was ashen and crestfallen. Quite the opposite. He was upbeat, cheery. He clearly thought he had done an amazing job. Emily went on a tour of the Palace with him, while we all scrambled, in shock, to get the interview back to the BBC, to start preparing it to share with the nation. With the world.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, we all know how the interview was received. \u201cPizza Express, Woking\u201d,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI didn\u2019t sweat at the time\u201d and \u201ca straightforward shooting weekend\u201d launched a thousand memes. HRH was universally condemned. And, just four days later, it was announced that he was stepping back from his royal duties. Sacked, in effect, by his own mother. No vindication, just humiliation.<\/span><\/p>\n Prince Andrew is stepping back from royal duties for the \u201cforeseeable future\u201d following criticism over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n