Sam McAlister: The producer behind THAT Prince Andrew interview

Sweeney Talks

Global

Society & Culture, Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam McAlister has negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace to The White House, Tesla to Facebook. But she’s best known for arranging one of the most shocking and revealing interviews of all time: Prince Andrew’s infamous showdown with Emily Maitlis. Sam started out as a barrister – it wasn’t for her. Her anxiety was through the roof, her hair fell out, and she says the only time she felt happy was in the cells with the clients. How did Sam go from that to bagging the scoop of the decade? For exclusive bonus content visit Global Player: https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KuWb/

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Global Player original podcast.
0:08.0	Welcome to Sweeney Talks. It's a podcast series where I get to interview people who've done serious stuff with their lives and then got into trouble. Big trouble.
0:17.0	I'm not here to lecture them about that. I'm kind of a professor of
0:21.4	big trouble ology myself. I've got history with the Church of Scientology, North
0:26.7	Korea, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Tommy Robinson and the Russian army. I'm here to find out
0:35.3	what it feels like to be in the deep doo-doo.
0:38.3	How you survive it, and then how the hell you get out of it.
0:43.3	If you've been in trouble, you're not alone.
0:46.3	So, come along for the ride.
0:49.3	You might learn some new tricks.
0:51.3	You might have a laugh, but one thing is sure. The best stories aren't told by the
0:56.8	well-behaved. And once you've listened to the interview, you can hear what I really think
1:05.2	about it. In Sweeney keeps talking. Find that exclusively on Global Player.
1:19.5	Today's guest is Sam McAllister, who was perhaps the greatest interview producer in Britain.
1:27.0	The proof of that is that Sam, when she was at BBC Newsnight, booked Prince Andrew for that car crash interview. She's written all that up in her bestseller
1:29.4	Scoops with an S, so she added the S so she wouldn't get sued. But journalism was her second
1:37.0	career. She started out as a lawyer. As a pupil, that's fancy talk for a trainee lawyer,
1:43.6	her hair fell out.
1:45.2	Her anxiety went through the roof and, quote,
1:47.7	the only time I felt happy was in the cells with the clients.
1:51.9	Sir Sam, what was it like waking up one morning knowing that you hate what you're doing
1:57.2	with all your heart and soul?
	...

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