Emily Maitlis’ interview with Prince Andrew on Newsnight was an exercise in skilled journalism.
The interview, which saw Maitlis press the Duke of York for answers on his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and catapult a Pizza Express in Woking into fame, won her Presenter of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards.
Maitlis has now revealed that during her landmark interview she was “slightly channelling DCI Kate Fleming” from the BBC television show Line of Duty.
Fleming is a fictional detective in the BBC show Line of Duty, played by Vicky McClure.
Speaking on the podcast, the presenter explained that she had to resist the temptation to “dance” over his “extraordinary” answers - which is where Fleming came in.
“There's something so calmly forensic about the way she does it. It's really unemotional, really calm, really quiet, but you just know she's done all her homework,” she said.
“That was the thing I wanted. I would have shown myself up if I'd got the dates wrong, I got the names wrong if I'd said something that he'd had to massively contradict because I'd mixed things up," she continued.
After Prince Andrew gave “extraordinary” answers, which included claiming that he can’t sweat due to an “overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when I was shot at”, she explained that she had to make sure she “understood the full narrative.”
She said, “Literally everything that came out of his mouth was sort of extraordinary as a journalist trying to piece the story together.”
"It was a question of making sure we understood the full narrative of what he was trying to tell us,” she finished, “You just don't want to drop the ball."
According to Variety, Maitlis’ hour-long interview with Prince Andrew drew 1.7 million viewers the night it was aired.
A BBC spokesperson claimed it was the biggest number “we have seen for several years” and the full interview posted to YouTube currently has 1.6 million views
Maitlis has also become the subject of headlines and social media trends today, as a monologue she made about the "misleading" language used to describe coronavirus has gone viral.
"You do not survive the illness through fortitude and strength of character, whatever the Prime Minister’s colleagues will tell us,” Maitlis said. “And the disease is not a great leveller, the consequences of which everyone - rich or poor - suffers the same.”
