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Emily Maitlis says she channelled Line of Duty DCI in Prince Andrew interview

KING'S LYNN, ENGLAND - JANUARY 19: Prince Andrew, Duke of York attends church at St Mary the Virgin at Hillington in Sandringham on January 19, 2020 in King's Lynn, England. (Photo by Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)
Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties after the Newsnight interview. (Getty Images)

Emily Maitlis has said she tried to channel Line of Duty’s Kate Fleming when she interviewed Prince Andrew over his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Maitlis’s BBC Newsnight interview resulted in the Duke of York stepping back from public duties “for the foreseeable future” after he said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, who had been charged with sex offences.

Epstein killed himself in prison when he was awaiting trial.

Speaking about the interview on Table Manners with Jessie Ware, Maitlis, 49, said she tried to channel the TV detective’s calm and unemotional ways as she interviewed the royal.

She said: “I am quite adrenaline driven, I have realised that, I am fascinated by adrenaline. That’s what I said to him when he said ‘oh I must tell you why I don’t sweat’.

“I was like ‘I’m fascinated by adrenaline’ and he told me all about the no sweating thing.”

Read more: US lawyer targets Prince Andrew in post-birthday stunt

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 05:  Emily Maitlis addresses students at the Cambridge Union Society on October 5, 2015 in Cambridge, England.  (Photo by Chris Williamson/Getty Images)
Emily Maitlis addresses students at the Cambridge Union Society in 2015. (Getty Images)

Andrew claimed he could not sweat because he suffered an “overdose of adrenaline” when he was shot at during service in the Falklands War.

On the podcast, Maitlis continued: “I kept thinking ‘what on earth am I doing here?’

“He didn’t have to do this interview, he was incredibly candid, he was really open, I didn’t think at all ‘oh what a frustrating thing to say’, I just thought ‘what an extraordinary thing to say’.

“Literally everything that came out of his mouth was just extraordinary, as a journalist trying to piece the story together.

You know DCI Kate Fleming ‘has done all her homework’

“I got slightly, trying to channel DCI Kate Fleming. Not in terms of him a being a crook, but there’s something so calmly forensic about the way she does it, it’s really unemotional, really calm, really quiet, but you know she’s done all her homework.

“I would have shown myself up if I’d got the dates wrong, if I’d got the names wrong, if I’d said something he had to contradict - that was all it was to me.”

DCI Fleming is played by Vicky McClure in BBC’s Line of Duty, and is a “consummate professional, unmoved by emotional considerations” according to the network.

Vicky McClure attending a photocall for series five of BBC's Line of Duty, held at the BFI Southbank in London. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Vicky McClure plays DCI Kate Fleming in Line of Duty. (Getty)

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Asked by the hosts if she was “dancing” when he gave his “jaw-dropping” answers, Maitlis said none of the “dancing” came during the interview, because she was focused on following everything up correctly.

Prince Andrew was friends with Epstein during the late 1990s and 2000s, having met him through Epstein’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

The pair attended several events and parties together, including a birthday party thrown for Maxwell by the duke at Sandringham House in 2000.

Their friendship continued even after Epstein had served time in prison for procuring prostitution of girls under the age of 18.

In the interview, Andrew denied allegations made against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she had sex with the duke several times when she was trafficked by Epstein.

He claimed he has no recollection of meeting her, and provided an alibi of being at a children’s birthday party at Pizza Express in Woking on one of the occasions he allegedly had sex with her.

Read more: Why are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping back as senior royals?

After the interview, in November 2019, Andrew released a statement which expressed regret at his “ill-judged association” with Epstein, and said he hoped the victims would be able to rebuild their lives.

He has rarely been seen in public since then, but did attend church with the Queen in January, shortly after a deal was reached between Her Majesty and Prince Harry and Meghan, allowing them to step back from their roles as senior royals.

Andrew promised to co-operate with law enforcement in the USA, but lawyers in New York have said they have not heard from him.

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