Network 10 has secured the rights to air Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in Australia.
Australians can tune in to what’s shaping up to be one of the most explosive interviews in a generation on Monday March 8 at 7:30pm – 7.5 hours after it airs in the United States – or on 10 play.
The blockbuster 2.5 hour interview will premiere in the US on the CBS Television Network – which owns Network 10 – at 8pm local time on Sunday March 7.
The highly-anticipated interview is set to fan tensions between the Duke & Duchess of Sussex and the British Royal Family.
It’s not known how much Network 10 paid to secure rights to the footage, but UK broadcaster ITV is rumoured to be paying more than $1.78M.
Aussies can tune in to what’s shaping to be one of the most explosive interviews in a generation on Monday March 8 at 7:30pm – 7.5 hours after it airs in the US
Nine Entertainment Co was believed to have had the first crack at running the interview due to its contract with 60 Minutes which aired teasers to the special in the United States.
But the network confirmed to Daily Mail Australia it had not acquired the rights to the TV special which could rival Princess Diana’s shocking BBC Panorama interview in 1995.
Australians will be able catch a glimpse of snippets via Oprah’s official social media accounts in the lead up to Sunday, and across the CBS’s official pages as well.
Oprah has promised viewers there will be ‘shocking’ revelations and ‘no subject off limits’ in the candid discussion with the couple, who have been at odds with the rest of the royals since stepping back from their royal duties last year.
Meghan smiles slightly as Oprah, a close friend, in clear parallels to the way Diana reacted to questioning during her own explosive TV moment: the Panorama interview that aired in November 1995.
In a trailer released earlier this week, Prince Harry claims he emigrated to LA with his family because he feared ‘history repeating itself’ after the death of his mother Princess Diana.
During the sneak-peak, a visibly-pregnant Meghan, wearing a $4,700 black Armani dress, says nothing, and is only shown looking emotional while either cradling her baby bump or holding on to her husband’s hand in the garden of their $19.6 million Montecito mansion.
But in a hint that Meghan will not hold back about Harry’s family, Oprah reveals the former actress calls her 20 months as a royal ‘almost unsurvivable’ and the interviewer brands her account ‘shocking’.
Harry, wearing a smart grey suit and white shirt, also said he was ‘relieved and happy’ to have his wife by his side, hinting he feared that Meghan would suffer the same fate as his mother, who died 23 years ago.
The 90-minute special has been extended to two hours with Oprah promising viewers there will be ‘shocking’ revelations and ‘no subject off limits’
CBS’ Gayle King claimed this sit-down with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is ‘the best Oprah has ever done’, and it has now been decided to extend it from 90-minutes to two hours
‘I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago,’ He tells Ms Winfrey in the 30-second clip.
‘Because it’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us but at least we have each other.’
There will be some disquiet at the palace because it has now emerged that Harry has chosen to reference Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 along with her partner Dodi Fayed.
In more bad news for the royals, who have already been warned to ‘hide behind their sofas’ on Sunday, CBS last night revealed the show has extended from 90 minutes to a two-hour special.
The extra half-hour will also allow CBS to rake in more advertising, with a 30-second prime time slot believed to cost around $200,000.
DIANA’S BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW: The princess speaks to Martin Bashir on Panorama in 1995
Prince Harry appears to fear that Meghan could suffer the same fate as his mother Princess Diana
The acclaimed journalist called the interview – which is tipped to be watched by ten of millions of viewers worldwide – the best she has ever done, according to her best friend Gayle King.
The Sussexes are not being paid for the sit-down with Oprah, according to Page Six, but experts believe it is part of their plan to build a billion-dollar brand in the US after signing mega-deals with Netflix and Spotify worth at least $100million.
Oprah came days after Harry’s 17-minute interview with his friend James Corden on the Late Late Show last week.
On that show Duke of Sussex said the move to California last year was about ‘stepping back rather than stepping down’ as royals.
There is already tension between Harry and his family after their ‘horribly disrespectful’ swipe at The Queen after she took away their patronages, telling Her Majesty that ‘service is universal’, left Prince William and courtiers furious.
On Monday, it was revealed the Queen address the UK in a pre-recorded speech that will air on BBC One before the interview with Harry and Meghan.