Scoop ** (1987, Michael Maloney, Michael Hordern, Robert Eddison, Donald Pleasence, Denholm Elliott, Herbert Lom, Nicola Pagett) – Classic Movie Review 10,177

Director Gavin Millar’s 1987 TV movie Scoop is a much-heralded, £2.5 million London Weekend Television (LWT) production of Evelyn Waugh’s brilliant, mischievous Fleet Street satire, adapted by William Boyd, about nature columnist William Boot (Michael Maloney) mistaken for a war correspondent by a confused newspaper sub-editor (Denholm Elliott) and therefore his wrongful dispatch to cover a war in Africa where new confusions arise.

It’s a great book, an always relevant satire of the press, there is a great cast, and talented personnel everywhere. But there is little to hold the front page for in this leaden, only fitfully amusing version, although Donald Pleasence (perhaps surprisingly) scoops both the laughs and the acting honours as the newspaper proprietor Lord Copper (supposedly based on Lord Beaverbrook).

Also in the cast are Michael Hordern, Herbert Lom, Nicola Pagett, Renée Soutendijk, Jack Shepherd, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Robert Eddison, John Harding, Rosamund Greenwood, Gwen Nelson, Leon Sinden, Victoria Hasted, Ian Michie, Jake Wood, Reggie Oliver, Ceri Jackson, Lucy Speed, and Nicholas Le Prevost.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,177

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