Michael Sheen to play Prince Andrew in Amazon series

Michael Sheen is to star as the Duke of York in a series based on the Newsnight interview that wrecked his reputation.

Luther actress Ruth Wilson will play journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince over his relationship with dead billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in November 2019.

The three-part series, A Very Royal Scandal, will follow Maitlis up to her face off with Prince Andrew.

The Amazon Studios show is in production in the UK.

Maitlis, who left Newsnight to host The News Agents podcast with former BBC journalists Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, is an executive producer on the show.

The 53-year-old wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Blimey. First time I've seen this in print. What an exceptional cast."

The series is written by The Last King Of Scotland writer Jeremy Brock and directed by Becoming Jane's Julian Jarrold.

Among the cast are Joanna Scanlan as Andrew's ex-private secretary Amanda Thirsk, Alex Jennings as the late Queen's private secretary Sir Edward Young, and Eanna Hardwicke as Newsnight editor Stewart Maclean.

A Netflix film about the interview, called Scoop, is in the works.

In that version, Maitlis is played by The X-Files star Gillian Anderson while The Man In The High Castle actor Rufus Sewell appears as Andrew.