Posted in: TV | Tagged: david tennant, The Hack

The Hack: ITV Previews Tennant, Carlyle in Phone Hacking Drama Series

ITV released preview photos of David Tennant and Robert Carlyle in The Hack, their upcoming drama about the tabloid phone hacking scandal.

ITV has released a photo preview of their upcoming drama The Hack, which dramatises the story of how investigative reporter Nick Davies uncovered illegal phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct tabloid News of the World more than a decade ago. The resulting inquiry and court case were what ended up shutting down the News of the World, and good riddance to bad tabloids. The ubiquitous David Tennant plays Davies, and Robert Carlyle plays DCS Dave Cook.

The phone hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the World and imprisonment of its former editor Andy Coulson. Davies wrote an award-winning book about it, Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch. The headline-grabbing story reared its head again recently after Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN) apologized to Prince Harry, settled with him and for the first time admitted "unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun." The lesson here seems to be that newspapers really should not illegally hack anyone's phones for the pursuit of a story or scandal. You'd think that was pretty obvious, but evidently this was not the case for certain British tabloids. In case you were wondering, no, it wasn't the reporter who did the hacking – they don't know how – the paper paid people with the know-how to do it.

The Hack is the work of multi-BAFTA Award-winning playwright Jack Thorne, director Lewis Arnold (Sherwood), and producer Patrick Spence (Mr Bates vs the Post Office). David Tennant stars as Davies and can be seen working his magic in several images alongside Robert Carlyle, who plays Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook. Cook led the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, which is also told via The Hack. Toby Jones, as Alan Rusbridger, was the editor of The Guardian when the paper was leading the reporting into dodgy goings-on at the News of the World.

The series also stars Rose Leslie, Dougray Scott, Eve Myles, Adrian Lester, Katherine Kelly, Kevin Doyle, Neil Maskell, Lara Pulver, Lee Ingleby, Pip Torrens, Lisa McGrillis, Sean Pertwee, Robert Bathurst, Richard Pepple, Nadia Albina, Phil Davis, Ace Bhatti, Charlie Brooks, Paul Kaye, and Steve Pemberton. Basicall,y everybody is in The Hack.

ITV and Australian streamer Stan spent a year quietly filming, editing, and laying the groundwork for The Hack, which had working titles including Broken News and Mandrake. The premiere date is yet to be set for the UK or a North American outlet.

The same team's Mr. Smith vs. The Post Office had the effect of changing public opinion about one of the biggest injustices ever committed in recent British history, and there's hope The Hack might do the same in bringing to the public's attention something utterly unethical and immoral that a British newspaper did.

Aside from David Tennant, Matt Smith also played a Guardian journalist in the 2019 feature film Official Secrets, which starred Keira Knightley as whistleblower Katherine Gunn, who exposed the illegal spying operation by British and American intelligence agencies on UN diplomats for blackmail and leverage during the Iraq War. That's two former "Doctor Whos" who have played Guardian reporters.

Like Mr. Smith vs. The Post Office, The Hack continues the British social drama tradition of dramatising major events to shift public opinion.

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