Michael Sheen: Andrew Newsnight interview series explores ‘dangers of privilege’

Michael Sheen has said his new series based on the infamous Newsnight interview with the Duke of York is about the “dangers of privilege and entitlement”.

The Welsh actor, 55, portrays the duke in the upcoming Prime Video series A Very Royal Scandal, which depicts the interview in which former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis grilled Andrew over his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Luther actress Ruth Wilson takes on the part of Maitlis for the three episodes, which explore the events surrounding the high-profile interview.

Speaking about the show’s message ahead of the launch next week, Sheen said: “The more we’ve been working on it, it’s become clearer and clearer to me that it’s a story about the dangers of privilege and the dangers of entitlement, both for the person who has that privilege and entitlement but also for the society that is the context for it.

“And how easy it becomes to exploit people and situations, and to feel justified in doing that somehow.

“Or to not even think about it too much because you don’t have to, and the injustice in that.

“And when that happens, it is very difficult for people who have very little privilege and very little power or voice to confront that and to get people to listen.

“And so, I hope that an audience will come away from this having had an experience of that and seeing the far-reaching effects. Not only for within this story but within our culture.”

During the Newsnight exclusive, the duke was questioned on allegations that Epstein’s victim Virginia Giuffre was trafficked to have sex with him when she was aged 17.

Following the BBC broadcast in November 2019 and the furore over Andrew’s friendship with Epstein, the duke stepped down from public life.

Andrew strenuously denies the claims he sexually assaulted Ms Giuffre and in 2022 paid millions to her to settle a civil case out of court, saying he never met her.

Sheen, known for his character work including playing former Prime Minister Tony Blair in The Queen, revealed he discovered some details about the duke’s life which “really hit” him when preparing for the role.

Among the discovery, he claims he found out that the royal was “forced to stop relationships that seemed very important to him”, adding: “It wasn’t necessarily just his choice to end those relationships or to change those relationships.

“Due to the position he’s in, the word came from above that (they) had to end.”

He also found it “really extraordinary” that Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson continued to live together as a family despite separating.

“I found that really extraordinary that even though they’d been told that’s it, this is the end of this, they still lived as a family, which is both weird and sort of incredibly bit heart-breaking, and lovely, I suppose”, he said.

“I mean, great for the girls, that’s, you know, they got to grow up with their mum and dad there in the home together.

“But I didn’t know that and that really struck me.”

Netflix released a film titled Scoop, based on the memoir of Newsnight producer Sam McAlister, earlier this year about the same interview, starring Gillian Anderson as Maitlis.

A Very Royal Scandal will premiere on September 19 on Prime Video.