As the Amazon show recreates Beatrice’s wedding in Andrew’s Newsnight interview… Are these the worst lookalikes ever in a royal TV drama?
They’re some of the most recognizable people on the planet… but apparently not if you’re a certain TV casting director.
A new series about the royal family has chosen actors who bear virtually no resemblance to the real-life figures they are supposed to play, as these exclusive photos from the set prove.
Worst of all is Sarah Ferguson, depicted as a dork with shocking bottle-red hair and an unflattering saucer hat.
Meanwhile, the screen version of the late queen looks less like the royal majesty who commanded a nation’s devotion than a suburban mayor opening a municipal dump.
The photos come from filming of A Very Royal Scandal, one of two rival projects about Prince Andrew’s fall from his Newsnight car crash, in the pipeline.
Worst of all is Sarah Ferguson, depicted as a dork with shocking bottle-red hair and an unflattering saucer hat. Pictured: Fergie (L) and Claire Rushbrook (R)
Meanwhile, the screen version of the late queen looks less like the regal majesty who commanded a nation’s devotion than a suburban mayor opening a municipal dump.
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth pictured at Beatrice and Edo’s 2021 wedding
A new series about the royal family has chosen actors who bear virtually no resemblance to the real-life figures they are supposed to play, as these exclusive photos from the set prove. In the photo: Princess Beatrice and Edo on their wedding day (L) The actors play the couple (R)
Andrew himself is played by Michael Sheen – who has made a career of playing real-life figures from Tony Blair to football manager Brian Clough – but here he bears only a passing resemblance to the Prince. Pictured: Prince Andrew (L) and Michael Sheen (R)
One observer said: ‘These are the kind of dodgy likenesses you’d expect to see in a cheap wax museum in Krakow, and not in a big-budget TV production.’
Andrew himself is played by Michael Sheen – who has made a career of playing real-life figures from Tony Blair to football manager Brian Clough – but here he bears only a passing resemblance to the Prince.
He wears a dark morning suit, beige waistcoat and light blue tie for the scene, which recreates Princess Beatrice and Edo Mapelli Mozzi’s wedding in Windsor in 2020.
A very royal scandal is created for Amazon’s Prime Video with the help of Emily Maitlis, who conducted the interview and grilled the Duke of York about his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the allegations that he sexually assaulted 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre had abused. he has always vehemently denied it.
It is the third in a trilogy of dramatizations of events from recent history, following A Very British Scandal, about the divorce of the Duchess of Argyll that outraged 1960s society, and A Very English Scandal, about the disgraced Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, broadcast on the BBC.
The three-part series, made by Blueprint Pictures, mixes scenes from the BBC interview with flashbacks, including last week’s wedding photo.
Maitlis is played by Luther’s Ruth Wilson, with Claire Rushbrook as Sarah Ferguson.
The rival Netflix film, called Scoop, stars Gillian Anderson as Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as the Duke of York and is adapted from a book that Newsnight producer Sam McAlister wrote about the encounter.
In this film, Billie Piper plays Mrs. McAlister, while Keeley Hawes is Andrew’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.
They are both a follow-up to a documentary about the scandal, Secrets Of Prince Andrew, in which Maitlis said: ‘My intention was not to ruin his life. That wasn’t on my radar.’
Andrew, 63, was spotted driving through Windsor Great Park on Friday looking solemn.