BBC anger as ex-producer ‘steals glory’ for Emily Maitlis’s Prince Andrew interview

It was the scoop of the decade, an extraordinary encounter that brought an abrupt end to the Duke of York’s royal career.

But the “mastermind” behind the Duke’s now infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis is facing a backlash at the BBC, where senior figures are frustrated that she appears claiming all the glory, while at the same time exploiting the process for financial gain.

Sam McAlister, the former BBC producer who helped negotiate the November 2019 interview, wrote a book detailing her version of events which was recently snapped up by a film production company.

The book was serialised in a national newspaper and McAlister has done myriad interviews in which she details every meeting, conversation and negotiation that preceded the interview.

BBC sources are quietly seething at what they perceive to be McAlister taking the lion's share of the credit when the success of the interview was considered very much a team effort.

None dispute that the former producer played a critical role in securing the award-winning scoop. But her many colleagues, including Maitlis, who won Interviewer of the Year for the programme at the British Journalism Awards 2020, are reduced to peripheral figures in various publicity interviews and webinars.

Similarly, there is irritation and upset that the interview and events leading up to it have been monetised.

One of the main reasons the Duke agreed to go on Newsnight was because of the programme’s gravitas and reputation for conducting in-depth, hard-hitting interviews, sources contend.

With that, comes a tacit understanding about the sanctity of the negotiation process, which has historically remained confidential.

In this case, it has been blown wide open, with every cough and spit repeated time and again.

A BBC insider said: “There is internal disappointment because it is not the done thing to expose how you go about these journalistic practices and also because a lot of people who did a considerable amount of work on this show are being written out of the process in pursuit of one person's career. Former colleagues find that disappointing."

At both the BBC and Buckingham Palace, there is also frustration that McAlister’s version of events is being accepted as fact.

One royal source echoed the Queen on the subject, wrily noting that “recollections may vary”. There are specific, critical details which several insiders contest.

Another said they certainly “do not recognise everything that has been stated.”

McAlister claims the Duke agreed to the interview after she taunted him about his "Randy Andy" nickname.

Multiple sources contest McAlister’s claim that Donal McCabe, the Queen’s communications secretary, only “fleetingly” popped into the interview room and left before the cameras started rolling, a move she brands a “missed opportunity.”

In fact, they say, Mr McCabe was in the room throughout, diligently making notes.

For the Duke, the fallout from the interview was catastrophic. It came after Virginia Giuffre, who was widely trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, claimed she was flown to London and forced to have sex with him when she was 17.

Quizzed by Maitlis, the Duke failed to express any regret over his friendship with Epstein, or empathy for his victims.

He insisted he had “no recollection” of meeting Ms Giuffre and said he was at Pizza Express in Woking on the night in question, also revealing that he did not sweat due to a “peculiar medical condition”.

Within days, he had been effectively sacked as a working member of the Royal family.

Several months later, he was served with court papers in a civil sex abuse case that ended with him paying Ms Giuffre around £12 million, without admitting liability.

Despite the dramatic consequences, the monetisation of the interview was not expected and many at the palace consider it unedifying.

A friend of the Duke told The Telegraph: "This latest exploitation for financial gain of a book and now a film, of what was and remains, a very difficult time for the family, is unwelcome.

“Not least as the account of events leading up to and around the interview appear to have elements of dramatic licence."

Recent claims in the media surrounding the alleged existence of a “shocking” photograph of the Duke, said to have been captured by a photographer working for the BBC on the day of the interview, have also been dismissed as “nonsense.”

No one involved is said to have seen or heard of such a photograph.

In her book, Scoops, McAlister repeats a celebratory tweet from Esme Wren, then Newsnight editor, who paid “full credit” to her for securing the world exclusive.

The producer writes: “Credit is a tricky issue. Others had worked with me and borne the strains too. I wanted to make sure everyone got mentioned every time - after all, there was enough credit to go around for everyone.”

A spokesperson for OneWorld, the publisher of Scoops, said: “Sam’s book speaks for itself and she shares credit in it and in interviews.”

A BBC spokesman declined to comment, noting that “once staff have left the BBC, they have left.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.