Episode Information

The monarchy and the media are like a couple who are constantly feuding but can’t afford to divorce. They’re together forever. This film chronicles the frenzied, comical and often nasty relationship between the royals and the "rat pack" chasing them. For Prince Philip, journalists are lowly "reptiles". For Prince Charles, they are "those bloody people". "We may be scum", retorts tabloid reporter Harry Arnold, "but we’re the crème de la scum". The problem with the Royal Family is that they want lots of publicity to justify their existence according to former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade, but they don't want the bad side of the publicity, which is intrusion, harassment and being chased. Nothing sells newspapers more than a royal scoop, so British journalists are always looking for new ways of getting one. They sneak into the Windsors’ palaces, hack their voice mail and trap them with sting operations. The Royals are the stars in Britain's longest running soap opera. They cannot retreat from the public without alienating it. So they court the media they detest, sometimes with disastrous results.