ITN Productions Boss Ian Rumsey Talks Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’ & Bringing Royal Docs Up To Date For The Social Media Generation

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The EP behind Prince Harry’s bombshell ITV interview has stressed its “truly independent” nature in contrast to Netflix’s Harry & Meghan docuseries.

ITN Productions (ITNP) MD Ian Rumsey said Harry & Meghan had been “slightly overshadowed” by the debates thrown up around the royal couple’s involvement with the project.

The show, which achieved gangbuster ratings, was co-produced by Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Productions and they were involved with the editorial. “It was made in a certain way in conjunction with Harry and Meghan which felt like they were partners in that doc,” said Rumsey. “So I can understand there is a debate about what level of involvement the subjects should have.” The Prince Harry ITV interview, on the other hand, “felt truly independent,” Rumsey said, although there had been independence concerns before it aired due to presenter Tom Bradby’s friendship with Harry and the fact that the Duke of Sussex was promoting his memoir Spare.

During the January interview, Harry delivered several bombshell remarks including an extraordinary broadside against the “briefings, leakings and plantings” to the press that had come from members of his family about him and his wife. “The most important thing was that this was an interview with real, credible, journalistic vigor,” said Rumsey, as the dust settles on an interview that took place more than three months ago. “Now, when we talk to broadcasters, we can say we pulled off the Harry interview and this shows a degree of skill, trust and access.” The Harry interview has now sold to more than 80 territories and there has been an increase in sales of shows about younger royals including Prince Andrew’s daughters Beatrice, Eugenie, and Princess