Is Netflix’s Scoop Based on a True Story?

Netflix’s Scoop movie is causing a bit of a stir, not just because Rufus Sewell used a prosthetic bum. But did the story actually happen? The events, not just the bum. If you’re wondering if Netflix’s Scoop is based on a true story, here’s the answer.

Is Netflix’s Scoop Based on a True Story?

Netflix’s Scoop is indeed based on a true story. British royal Prince Andrew was accused of having links to Jeffrey Epstein. And in March 2022, he paid an undisclosed sum to Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of abuse.

But between those two events, he participated in a BBC interview that was legendarily awful, and that’s the ‘scoop, the title refers to. It was meant to defuse the allegations, but instead, Prince Andrew’s ‘performance’ was heavily, heavily panned. His claim that he couldn’t sweat was, in particular, widely mocked. And despite the grim topic (or because of it), the Pizza Express jokes keep coming.

However, Netflix’s Scoop is, as the streamer describes it, a “fictional dramatization”, based on a book, Scoops, written by Sam McAlister. McAlister was the BBC producer who arranged the interview, and the film delves into a lot of the wrangling that went into making the interview happen.

So the movie is, indeed, based on a true story, but “Certain elements have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes,” as Netflix puts it. What elements? The BBC themselves pointed out that Prince Andrew’s dismissive comment about interviewer Emily Maitlis wearing trousers didn’t happen, suggesting it was there to help portray Prince Andrew as sexist and out of date.

The Twitter handles seen in the show, firing off Prince Andrew memes, don’t exist, though that absolutely happened post-interview. The scene where Prince Andrew gets out of the bath to check his notifications was entirely made up. Rufus Sewell, who plays Andrew, did indeed wear a prosthetic arse, which must have been a weird day in the make-up department.

So the answer to Netflix’s Scoop, based on a true story, the answer is yes, it is. But it’s dramatized, so some scenes will have been spiced up, shortened, otherwise altered, or just plain made up.