A Very Royal Scandal review: Rises above Scoop with a more thoughtful take

It's an unenviable position A Very Royal Scandal finds itself in, coming so soon after Scoop, the Netflix film based on Sam McAlister's book, which starred Gillian Anderson as Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as Andrew.

This new project takes the form of a three-part series, and is also wrapped up in a larger collection of shows based around scandals (previous entrants include A Very English Scandal and A Very British Scandal).

It has been adapted from Maitlis's own book Airhead, and she is therefore an executive producer on this project, which stars Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen.

The question is, and certainly should be, does it measure up in its own right, as both a piece of drama and an exploration of this period in recent history?

However, because of Scoop's success earlier this year, there is also another question out there, one I'm sure the team behind would prefer wasn't the centre of attention - how do the two compare?

On this front, A Very Royal Scandal actually comes out favourably, as the superior telling of this story. While Scoop was ably performed and highly watchable, it also felt somewhat surface-level - an adaptation which failed to get under the skin of its characters, or examine the events it was depicting.

The grand total of Scoop's exploration was seemingly an assertion of the power of journalism - a perfectly fine assessment, but not particularly surprising or noteworthy. A large amount of that film's intrigue came from its picture-perfect recreations of real-life individuals, images and videos, particularly the interview itself.

A Very Royal Scandal, on the other hand, partly by dint of its extended runtime, is more interested in both the inner lives of its two central figures, Maitlis and Andrew, as well as the limitations of journalism, and the wider impact of a one-hour, on-camera conversation.

It tells its story across three episodes, and three distinct chapters. The first focuses on the build-up to the interview, much as Scoop did. It feels fairly familiar.

The second focuses primarily on the interview itself and the surrounding days. Again, not dissimilar to the Netflix film.

The third is where this show deviates, as it follows its central figures in the days, weeks, months and indeed years following the interview.

This third episode is by far and away the strongest, in part because it's traversing new terrain, but also because of the complexity of its discussion.

In focusing in on the lives of Andrew, Maitlis and others after the interview, it isn't afraid to examine the downsides, as well as the up. It isn't simply a celebratory lap around for Wilson's Maitlis, nor is Sheen's Andrew villainised.

Instead, the duo both, in their own ways, struggle to come to terms with exactly what has happened, or how they should feel about it.

In truth, that is the case throughout the series, even in between the more mocking and satirical scenes, pricking Sheen's Andrew's pomposity. There is an emotional rawness to the characters, and an interest in the personal, beyond the professional or political, which was largely lacking in Netflix's version.

The cast are unsurprisingly impressive. Sheen does a typically assured job as Prince Andrew, getting laughs when he needs to, provoking outrage when it is called for and appearing a tragic figure, all without externally making a call on his motivations, truths or untruths.

It's a role that Sewell excelled in and brought to life effectively in Scoop, but the additional runtime affords Sheen and the writers the opportunity to delve more into the character's psyche and his relationships with those around him.

Meanwhile, Wilson's turn as Maitlis is phenomenal and transformative. While the voice takes a little getting used to, the actor has actually got it almost spot on, but the overall performance is more than just an impression.

Where Anderson's Maitlis seemed to involve her ageing her voice up for unclear reasons, and it felt like she failed to get under the skin of Maitlis as a character, Wilson's take is far more incisive about her character, her own wants, fears, doubts and frailties.

The show is also effective in its handling of the characters surrounding the central duo, affording more time to explore them as human beings.

A clear case in point is that of Joanna Scanlan's take on Amanda Thirsk. While Keeley Hawes did an impressive job in the role of Andrew's former private secretary for Scoop, Scanlan's version paints a clearer portrait of the character's own motivations and her relationship with Andrew, particularly in the numerous scenes of the two of them together.

The series also spends far more time with Andrew's daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, played by Honor Swinton Byrne and Sofia Oxenham.

Thankfully, they're not just vehicles to explore their father's emotional state here, even if they do help to add extra context to the character. They are also their own individuals, and their own reactions and situations are not only accounted for, but actively explored.

One person who may come away from watching the series feeling a bit short-changed is Sam McAlister - while she was positioned as a, if not the central factor in securing the interview in Scoop, here she is relegated to a side character with the occasional quippy line.

It's a telling reminder as to the subjectivity of storytelling, memory and narrative. Here, Maitlis, Éanna Hardwicke's Stewart MacLean and Lydia Leonard's Esme Wren are clearly the driving forces when it comes to securing the interview.

Where A Very Royal Scandal falls down somewhat is where it was always going to - the question of whether this story benefits from being dramatised a) so soon, b) twice in one year and c) at all.

It was undoubtedly a major moment for the monarchy and the British public's relationship with them, and writer Jeremy Brock certainly makes the case here.

However, Maitlis herself made the point at a recent screening and Q&A for the series that this story remains unfinished and inconclusive. Questions remain about the details the Newsnight interview was interrogating, while they also remain about quite what, and how extensive, the repercussions have been.

Like with other dramas based on recent events, such as the confounding This England, there is a question here as to the full purpose of this dramatic retelling, when everyone so clearly remembers so many of the events depicted.

This is particularly evident in the second episode, where elements of the interview itself are recreated.

On one level, of course it's necessary for the drama to do so. In another, it's reminiscent of the bizarrely lauded ending of Bohemian Rhapsody, where 20 minutes were bafflingly given over to a recreation of Live Aid - a concert we can watch in full on YouTube right now. Where's the benefit in watching a lengthy recreation of something we still have the original footage of?

As entertainment, character study and thematic exploration, A Very Royal Scandal largely works. However, the former is somewhat diminished, a little unfairly, by this show being second to the punch.

To its benefit, it doesn't reach for easy answers, even if the lack of answers may be frustrating. This is probably the best dramatic version of this story we were ever going to get on screen, at least this soon after the event.

Then again, if in 10 years the events are reappraised and a third iteration is made - and let's face it, it probably will be - we can always circle back.

A Very Royal Scandal will stream on Amazon Prime Video from 19th September 2024 – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Plus, read our guides to the best Amazon Prime series and the best movies on Amazon Prime.

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