Sheen insists ‘no hatchet job’ as he prepares to portray Duke of York

Actor admits it is a rare challenge to inhabit the role of such a controversial figure

With not one but two television shows about his public fall from grace about to air on the world’s biggest streaming services, the Duke of York could be forgiven for feeling more than a little nervous.
The combined audience of the Amazon and Netflix shows, which will both tell the story of his disastrous Newsnight interview about the Epstein scandal, is likely to far surpass those who watched the original, with the court of public opinion still in session.
The Duke may breathe a small sign of relief, then, after actor Michael Sheen promised he would not be doing a “hatchet job”.
Sheen, who will play Prince Andrew in A Very Royal Scandal, a three-part series from Amazon Studios, said he will play him with “humanity”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Sheen said he had thought hard about why he had agreed to play Andrew.
“Inevitably you bring humanity to a character; that’s certainly what I try to do,” he said.
“I don’t want people to say, ‘It was Sheen who got everybody behind Andrew again.’ But I also don’t want to do a hatchet job.”
Asked what he was trying to do with the portrayal, Sheen added: “Well, it is a story about privilege, really. And how easy it is for privilege to exploit.
“We’ve found a way of keeping the ambiguity, because, legally, you can’t show stuff that you cannot prove, but whether guilty or not, his privilege is a major factor in whatever exploitation was going on.
“Beyond the specifics of Andrew and Epstein, no matter who you are, privilege has the potential to exploit someone.
“For Andrew, it’s: ‘This girl is being brought to me and I don’t really care where she comes from, or how old she is, this is just what happens for people like me.’”
A Very Royal Scandal is executive produced by Emily Maitlis, who interviewed the Duke for Newsnight in 2019.
The encounter saw him say he did not regret his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, by then a convicted paedophile who died while in jail before he went on trial for sex trafficking minors, because it was “actually very useful”.
It also created a host of lurid headlines about a memorable visit to Pizza Express, his inability to sweat, and his claim that he was “too honourable”.
The Duke of York stepped down from public duty shortly afterwards, and has not returned.
The drama stars Ruth Wilson as Maitlis, Joanna Scanlan as Prince Andrew’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk and Alex Jennings as Sir Edward Young, the late Queen’s private secretary.
Netflix is also producing a film, Scoop, about the same moment in royal history, based on the account of Sam McAlister, the producer who helped secure the interview.
In that, Andrew will be played by Rufus Sewell and Maitlis by Gillian Anderson. McAlister is played on screen by Billie Piper with Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk.
McAlister recently told The Telegraph the Netflix film will also not be a hatchet job on the Duke.
“We don’t take a side. We’re not saying, ‘Oh, isn’t he great,’ or, ‘Oh, isn’t he evil’,” she said. “It’s for the viewer to draw their own inferences.”
Philip Martin, the director who also directed the first two series of The Crown, said: “I think lots of people would tie themselves up in knots because they didn’t want to appear to approve of Andrew, or to disapprove of him. Rufus [Sewell] wasn’t afraid of that.”
Both shows are in production and are due out later this year.