Netflix has added more stars to the cast of its Newsnight drama Scoop, with Sex Education's Connor Swindells set to join Gillian Anderson and Keeley Hawes in the adaptation.

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Based on the memoir of Newsnight guest booker Sam McAlister, Scoop is set to dramatise the lead up to Emily Maitlis's 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, who'll be played by Judy's Rufus Sewell.

Swindells, who is best known for playing Adam Groff in Netflix's Sex Education and for roles in Emma, Vigil and SAS Rogue Heroes, is set to play Jae Donnelly, the photographer who captured the infamous photograph of Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park.

New additions to the cast also include Suffragette's Romola Garai (as then Newsnight editor Esme Wren), The Crown's Lia Williams (BBC director of news and current affairs, Fran Unsworth), New Tricks star Amanda Redman (Sam McAlister's mother Netta) and Wolf Hall's Charity Wakefield (HRH Princess Beatrice).

Written by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil, Scoop follows the women who "broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade" that ultimately led to the "catastrophic fall from grace of The Queen's 'favourite son'".

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The adaptation will cover the negotiations between the Newsnight team and Prince Andrew's inner circle, the rehearsal and the interview itself, which saw Newsnight achieve record reviewing figures with nearly two million people tuning in to watch the show.

In February, Netflix announced that Doctor Who's Billie Piper would portray McAlister in the drama, while Keeley Hawes is set to play Prince Andrew's former private secretary Amanda Thirsk, and Gillian Anderson will take on the role of Emily Maitlis.

McAlister, who wrote Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews, said that the project was "beyond [her] wildest dreams" as a first time writer to be working with the "extraordinary cast" and that being portrayed by Billie Piper is a "pinch myself moment".

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Authors

Lauren Morris
Lauren MorrisEntertainment and Factual Writer
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