David Tennant, Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones will lead a new ITV Studios-commissioned series about the U.K.’s phone-hacking scandal, The Hack.
Written by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, His Dark Materials), the seven-part drama is produced by the team from Mr Bates vs The Post Office — a show that set Britain alight with its exposure of gross maltreatment and a miscarriage of justice when hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongly accused of theft and fraud due to a faulty computer system (the show’s impact led the U.K. government to announce new legislation to exonerate the wrongly convicted subpostmasters).
Set between 2002 and 2012, The Hack interweaves two real-life stories, including the work of investigative journalist Nick Davies (Tennant), who uncovered evidence of phone-hacking at the Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher News Group Newspaper, specifically the News of the World tabloid.
Running parallel is the story of the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (Carlyle). Jones plays former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.
“This is a strange and deceptive piece of our recent history,” Thorne said. “One with so many layers to it. I thought, as someone who is interested in politics, I understood everything that happened. I did not. It’s a fight for the truth that really shocked me.”
He continued: “That is why it matters to tell this story now in an age where the truth seems more in danger than ever. It is a true honor to be bringing this story to the screen alongside David, Robert, Toby, Lewis, Patrick, Joe and Abi. I hope we find a way to do justice to the complexity of what happened and of celebrating the incredible reporting that sits underneath it.”
The fallout of the phone-hacking scandal has continued to rock the U.K. and some of its most notable figures decades later. Only last week, Prince Harry settled his case against NGN, the publisher of The Sun newspaper, who offered the Duke a “full and unequivocal” apology for the illegal violation of his and his mother’s privacy. Shortly after, Hugh Grant, who settled after accusing NGN of tapping his phone and burgling his house, urged police to open a new criminal investigation into NGN in the wake of the Duke’s landmark settlement, saying the job is “not done by any means.”
The Hack has been commissioned for ITV by director of drama, Polly Hill and will air on ITV and STV and be available for streaming on ITVX and STV Player. The series is currently in post-production having filmed during 2024.
Deadline first reported the news of the series.
