As Amazon show on Andrew’s Newsnight interview recreates Beatrice’s wedding… Are these the worst lookalikes ever in a royal TV drama?

They are some of the most recognisable people on the planet… but not, apparently, if you are a certain TV casting director.

A new series about the Royal Family has chosen actors that bear almost no resemblance to the real figures they are supposed to be playing, as these exclusive pictures from the set prove.

Worst of the lot is Sarah Ferguson, portrayed as a frump with shocking bottle-red hair and wearing an unflattering saucer hat.

Meanwhile, the screen version of the late Queen looks less like the regal majesty who commanded a nation’s devotion than a suburban mayoress opening a municipal rubbish tip.

The pictures come from the filming of A Very Royal Scandal, one of two rival projects about Prince Andrew’s fall from grace following his car-crash Newsnight interview that are in the pipeline.

Worst of the lot is Sarah Ferguson , portrayed as a frump with shocking bottle-red hair and wearing 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 mayoress opening a municipal rubbish tip 

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth pictured at Beatrice and Edo’s wedding in 2021

A new series about the Royal Family has chosen actors that bear almost no resemblance to the real figures they are supposed to be playing, as these exclusive pictures from the set prove. Pictured: Princess Beatrice and Edo on their wedding day (L)  The actors playing the couple (R)

Andrew himself is portrayed by Michael Sheen – who has made a career playing real-life figures from Tony Blair to football manager Brian Clough – but bears just a passing resemblance to the Prince here. Pictured: Prince Andrew (L) and Michael Sheen (R)

One observer said: ‘These are the sort of dodgy likenesses you might expect in a cut-price Krakow waxwork museum, not a big-budget TV production.’ 

Andrew himself is portrayed by Michael Sheen – who has made a career playing real-life figures from Tony Blair to football manager Brian Clough – but bears just a passing resemblance to the Prince here. 

READ MORE: Which pieces of Kate’s dazzling – and deeply personal – jewellery will we see on screen when the final series of The Crown begins next week? 

He is wearing a dark morning suit, beige waistcoat and pale blue tie for the scene, which recreates the 2020 wedding of Princess Beatrice and Edo Mapelli Mozzi in Windsor.

A Very Royal Scandal is being made for Amazon’s Prime Video with the help of Emily Maitlis, who conducted the interview, grilling the Duke of York about his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the accusations he sexually assaulted 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, which he has always vehemently denied.

It is the third in a trilogy of dramatisations of events from recent history, following A Very British Scandal about the Duchess of Argyll’s divorce that outraged 1960s society and A Very English Scandal, about the disgraced Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, which aired on the BBC.

The three-part series, made by Blueprint Pictures, will mix scenes from the BBC interview with flashbacks including the wedding shot last week. 

Maitlis will be 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 Newsnight producer Sam McAlister wrote about the encounter. 

In this film, Billie Piper will play Ms McAlister while Keeley Hawes is Andrew’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.

They both follow on from a documentary about the scandal, Secrets Of Prince Andrew, in which Maitlis said: ‘My intention was not to ruin his life. That was not on my radar.’

Andrew, 63, was seen riding around Windsor Great Park on Friday, looking solemn.

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