Oprah with Meghan and Harry, review: A mesmerising royal scandal delivered by a master interviewer
The commercial breaks for the US broadcast of Oprah with Meghan and Harry carried prescription drug ads that warned “may cause diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting” - all sensations familiar to Buckingham Palace aides within minutes of tuning in.
By the time the interview of the century landed on ITV 20 hours later, we were all well-versed in its contents. But it was no less mesmerising for that.
Over two jaw-dropping hours, Meghan and Harry burned their bridges while Oprah handed them the matches. The interview was brilliantly edited down from three-and-a-half hours of footage so that not a minute went by without a killer quote or major revelation.
Oprah is a master interviewer. She has perfected the tone and the look: a warm-hearted headmistress who loves her charges but won’t stand for any nonsense.
Put some of her questions in the mouth of Jeremy Paxman or Emma Barnett and they would seem confrontational: “You were marrying the monarchy, what did you think it was going to be like?” “Did you make Kate cry?” But from Oprah, they’re invitations to - as the Californians would say - speak your truth.
It began with a virtual hug, which must have been tough because these two are definitely huggers. They’re also friends and neighbours, and it was difficult to believe that the questions weren’t mapped out in advance, although Oprah insisted that they were not.
Meghan is not the only one with an acting background, and Oprah (an Oscar nominee) knows how to deliver a line. “Were you silent or were you si-lenced?” was a beauty, as was her reaction to the bombshell that a member of the Royal family had raised concerns about how dark Archie’s skin would be. “WHAT?” she gasped. “Who… WHO is having that conversation with you?” It made for terrific drama.
There was no preamble about how the couple met or any of that stuff that Oprah knows we know. She knows we want the dirt. ITV had bought the show wholesale from CBS and it was a very American affair, from the dramatic music to the cliffhangers going into each ad break.
If Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop did interviews, this would be the result. A beautiful Californian setting, a glowing duchess, a carefully-choreographed series of revelations that shared the couple’s pain but ended on an uplifting note. And the news that Archie’s current favourite word is “hydrate”.
And there were chickens. Only Oprah could get her subjects to casually drop a huge story - that the couple married in secret before their official wedding day (“Just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury”) - while pottering around a chicken coop, Oprah in her tracksuit and carrying an egg box.
Questions were left unanswered. Who is the Royal family’s secret racist? Why wasn't Thomas Markle mentioned? Who is the friend that offered up their pergola as the location for this interview and where did they get those nice garden chairs?
The interview was a mix of straight-from-the-heart and stagey. The couple talked about the terrible lows they have endured, but the slick production sometimes worked against them by making some comments look practised. “I wasn’t planning to say anything shocking,” said Meghan at one point, rather unbelievably.
Harry only popped in at the end; goofing around on an assault course with James Corden is closer to his comfort zone, and he seemed ill at ease here. This was really the Meghan and Oprah show, and the two women complemented each other perfectly.
