Written by BAFTA, Tony and Olivier award-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne, ‘The Hack’ is a seven-part ITV Studios co-production with Stan Australia about the phone hacking scandal. Starring David Tennant, Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones, and produced by the team who brought us ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’, ‘The Hack’ will air on ITV1 and ITVX from September 24.
Set between 2002 and 2012, the drama deftly interweaves two real life stories, the work of investigative journalist Nick Davies, played by David Tennant, who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World, and running parallel, the story of the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, played by Robert Carlyle. Toby Jones plays former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.
Commissioned for ITV by Director of Drama, Polly Hill, The Hack is directed by the BAFTA award-winning Lewis Arnold (Time) and executive produced by BAFTA, Peabody and RTS award-winning Patrick Spence (Mr Bates vs The Post Office), who is the Managing Director of AC Chapter One. Jack Thorne (Adolescence) also executive produces alongside Joe Williams (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for ITV Studios.
©ITV Studios/Stan
Speaking ahead of the premiere, Jack Thorne said, “The Hack is a story about great journalism and remarkable people who are very brave. The other side of it is about abuse of power. But also the laziness of power in the face of people who are looking to corrupt the system. I don’t think what happened was a result of lots of people conspiring together to pollute things. What happened was that a certain newspaper found it was easier to steal stories than to find them. And nobody stopped them.
The power of what Nick Davies and The Guardian exposed was to do with laziness as much as it was to do with conspiracy and corruption. That’s the really interesting thing about this. We trick ourselves into believing there is this dark cabal that exists behind it. And actually, what it is, it’s a load of shadows that don’t want to challenge each other. That’s what happened in this case.
There was the bowing down in front of Rupert Murdoch in order to keep power. That was done by all sides for a very long time, and it was a lot easier to do that than to challenge. I found it really interesting, the notion that the Metropolitan Police were terrified following Stephen Lawrence. One of the results of the Stephen Lawrence case, which is awful to think about, was that the tabloids had to be included in police calculations regarding their actions. That something that was so sad, led to cowardice rather than a front-footed response is very telling, I think.
I hope this show is both a celebration and a condemnation of journalism. In an age where people often ask, ‘Why did it take TV to shed light on this?’ it’s brilliant that we’re discussing how some people in the press have the courage to challenge the establishment. We’re talking about a time when the press had even more power than they do now. Today, their power has been diluted slightly. But that ability to be able to destroy a career, destroy an election, to destroy anything they seem to want to destroy was used very brutally throughout that time.”
©ITV Studios/Stan
David Tennant added, “It is a story with wide implications. Because it is about power. It’s about who holds the power and how you can abuse that power. The power of communication and information. When we are told one thing, when actually the opposite might be true. There’s so much in there. In a world that is increasingly run by information. Where facts are upstaged by someone’s version of the sub-truth. And where that has more power, potentially. Where public opinion can be influenced by something that is blatantly not true. There are examples of that all around the world. That truth is a commodity is something very dangerous for us all if we’re trying to run a just and fair society. I think that’s the kernel of what Davies was pursuing and the reason that Jack wanted to tell the story now.
Our view of people, or indeed groups of people, are perniciously influenced by the way ‘facts’ are transmitted to us, and it is cheapening society. Even the most learned media observer is probably being hoodwinked by some of this. We’re all being told things that may not quite be true on a daily basis, and our opinions are being formed. It means that people can be ‘othered’. People can be diminished. That prejudices can be enforced in ways that we don’t even understand are happening to us. And I’m afraid to say I think certain newspapers have been desperately guilty of that. Sometimes for commercial reasons. Sometimes, for reasons of their own survival”.
Alongside David Tennant, Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones, the cast also includes 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, Phil Davis, Ace Bhatti, Charlie Brooks, and Steve Pemberton.
The Hack will air on ITV1 and ITVX from September 24.
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