Amazon Prime’s A Very Royal Scandal will be hitting the streaming service next month, and on Tuesday they released the first images of Michael Sheen as Prince Andrew.
The series will chart the Duke of York’s infamous Newsnight interview, which has since been dubbed as a “car crash”. The interview, conducted by Emily Maitlis, took place with the royal aiming to explain his links to financier and convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
The 45-minute interview featured several claims from the Prince, including that he couldn’t sweat and during the time he was alleged to have met Virginia Guiffre he says he was instead at a Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter, Princess Beatrice.
For the three-part series, Twilight star Michael Sheen has been recruited to play the royal and the images capture the incredible transformation.
© Christopher RaphaelTwo stills from the show feature Michael as Andrew recreating the interview and another where the Prince gives a speech. The Welsh actor completely resembles Andrew with his flat grey hair and blue suit, even mirroring the crossed legs during the interview.
Also present in the cast are Ruth Wilson, who will portray Emily Maitlis, Joanna Scanlan as Andrew’s ex-private secretary Amanda Thirsk, Alex Jennings as the late Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young, and Claire Rushbrook as Sarah Ferguson.
© Christopher RaphaelThey’re also joined by Eanna Hardwicke as BBC Newsnight editor Stewart Maclean.
Amazon Prime’s new series, which lands on 17 September, is the second project this year to focus on the interview, with Netflix producing Scoop, a movie which aired on 5 April 2024.
© Christopher RaphaelThe film featured Rufus Sewell as Andrew, Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis and Billie Piper as Sam McAllister.
The cast was rounded out by major stars including Keeley Hawes, Connor Swindells and Richard Goulding.
© GettyHowever, one major difference between the projects is that Newsnight interviewer Emily is an executive producer for Amazon Prime’s version, while she played little part in Netflix’s offering.
“I’ve left them very much to do their own thing because I think the last thing they want is me peeking around the edges offering my [views],” the former BBC journalist explained. “It says it’s based on a fictional account, so I think it goes into different places and it does different things [to the Amazon series].”
© NetflixThe journalist dismissed claims of a rivalry between the two stories, saying: “I think that probably is overplayed, overstated. This [the Amazon series] will be a very different beast.
“I’m sure there’s room for both. It’s unreal that there is all this interest and all this excitement.”
