Netflix’s new drama Scoop sees Prince Andrew ‘shockingly joke about his “friend” Jimmy Savile’ ahead of THAT infamous Newsnight interview

Netflix’s new drama Scoop reportedly features a shocking scene in which Prince Andrew makes fun of his ‘friend’ Jimmy Savile.

The film – which is released on April 5 – recreates Royal’s disgraced Newsnight car crash over his association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

According to The sun Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) jokes, “I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with me and Epstein.

‘I was much better friends with Jimmy Savile.’

For decades, Savile secretly prayed for hundreds of people of both sexes, including many children, while he was also a valued friend of King Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others.

The film – out on April 5 – recreates Royal’s disgraced Newsnight car crash over his association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein (Jimmy Savile photo 2006)

The publication reports that the film, starring Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis and Bille Piper as Newsnight producer Sam McAlister, portrays the Duke of York as a “bumbling, deluded fool.”

Not only does he tell his staff that they haven’t arranged his teddy bear collection correctly, in another scene he comes out of the bath completely naked.

It comes after actor Rufus admitted he initially regretted taking the role because it was outside his comfort zone.

The actor, 56, said he thought he could ‘get behind’ the role but panicked when he was offered the role and confessed he thought ‘what have I done?’

Rufus opened up about his story while appearing on Good Morning Britain, where he described “obsessively watching the Newsnight interview for hours.”

He spoke about his thoughts after getting the role, saying, “I felt like I could get behind it, but when I got the part I was like, ‘Gosh, what have I done?’ I’m not a natural imitator.’

‘I watched the interview obsessively. I watched it like everyone else at the time, I was a bit fascinated for several reasons. Like most people, I had my own judgments.

‘But it’s another thing to do it and try to put yourself in the position of someone like that and figure out what their reasoning and justification might be in their own head. Because that’s what people do.

According to The Sun, Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) jokes: ‘I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with me and Epstein’

Before adding: ‘I was much better friends with Jimmy Savile’

For decades, Savile secretly prayed for hundreds of people of both sexes, including many children, while he was also a valued friend of, among others, King Charles, then Prince of Wales (photo 2002)

‘I watched the interview obsessively. I watched it like everyone else at the time, I was a bit fascinated for several reasons. Like most people, I had my own judgments.

‘But it’s another thing to do it and try to put yourself in the position of someone like that and figure out what their reasoning and justification might be in their own head. Because that’s what people do.

“And I spent hours and hours every day trying to figure out what he was thinking. You could only guess. When there was a hesitation or a stutter, or a certain movement of the head – what was behind it?

Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis in Scoop. Maitlis herself executive produces her own version of events with Amazon Prime Video

Billie Piper plays BBC producer Sam McAlister. The film will be released on April 5

“So Gillian and I could reenact our version of events.”

‘I thought about what people would say: they might accuse me of trying to make him look bad, of trying to make him look good. That’s the danger of playing a real person.’

Rufus, who got engaged to girlfriend Vivian Benitez in December, underwent a total image transformation to become Prince Andrew and described the result as “the perfect mix between me and him.”

Rufus said: ‘At one point there were eyelids on me and I look so much like him it was creepy, but then I couldn’t move my eyes properly and if you watch the interview there’s so much of it in the eyes. ‘

Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew pictured during an interview in 2019

“One of the reasons I was so hesitant to take it was because I didn’t want to be seen as jumping on some bandwagon.

‘I just wanted to make a true representation of him, including good and bad. It is to show the light and the dark and we all have both. He’s a human being like everyone else.’

It is based on Scoops by Sam McAlister, who is also known as the ‘Booker extraordinaire’ on Newsnight after successfully negotiating and securing the interview in which the Duke was questioned about his friendship with late convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

Emily discussed Virginia Giuffre’s claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17, on Epstein’s orders.

The prince strongly denied the claims during the interview.

Scoop will be released on Netflix on April 5