The Hack turns the phone-hacking scandal into a dual-perspective drama for ITV
Writer Jack Thorne says the series honors journalists who held their own industry to account as it reexamines the 2011 scandal.
ITV’s forthcoming drama The Hack presents the phone-hacking scandal through two intertwined viewpoints: the investigative journalism that exposed the misuse of mobile voicemails and the police investigation that pursued the case. David Tennant plays Nick Davies, the Guardian reporter whose coverage helped reveal the scale of hacking at News of the World, while the series also follows police detective Dave Cook, portrayed by Robert Carlyle, who investigated the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan. The drama is written by Jack Thorne, who also created the Netflix hit Adolescence, and it is scheduled to premiere on ITV1 and ITVX on Wednesday, September 24 at 21:00 BST. The show’s approach is designed to illuminate not only the sensational headlines but the relationships that shaped the story—between the press, politics and the police—and to offer a more nuanced view of how a single investigation can unfold within a broader system.
Thorne has said the project grew out of a broader sense of what happened beyond the sensational elements. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he described The Hack as more than a story about journalists behaving badly. He framed it as a study of a troubled dynamic among media, political power and law enforcement, and he said the aim was to reveal the granular detail of how the scandal developed and what it revealed about institutional interdependencies. Thorne, who worked with members of the team behind the award-winning Mr Bates vs The Post Office, noted that while other reporting projects had highlighted journalistic work in the post office case, The Hack focuses on journalists who actively called their own industry to account. The intention, he said, was to portray the “remarkable” work of those reporters who dared to expose flaws within the media system itself.
The real-world events around the drama provide a frame for the series. The News of the World was shuttered in 2011 after revelations that journalists there had hacked the voicemails of public figures in pursuit of exclusive stories. Guardian journalist Davies published multiple stories about phone hacking over the course of the scandal, with public outrage rising sharply after it emerged that the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been accessed, giving her family false hope that she might still be alive. The fallout extended into the legal arena, with thousands of settlements; in total, more than 1,600 public figures and others reached out-of-court settlements with News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the News of the World.
The Hack stages a dual narrative: Davies’s reporting and the police investigation that intersected with the press’s pursuit of a landmark story. This setup aligns with the show’s broader aim of showing how a major investigative project can pivot on the friction and collaboration among different power structures. The production team behind The Hack includes collaborators who worked on Mr Bates vs The Post Office, and Thorne has suggested that this project will differ from that earlier work by foregrounding journalism that holds itself to account and by examining the implications for contemporary media culture.
Thorne’s comments come as the writer’s own television projects have gained traction. Adolescence, a series co-created with Stephen Graham, recently dominated awards ceremonies by capturing Emmy recognition, signaling Thorne’s prominent role in contemporary British drama. While The Hack is a different kind of story—rooted in investigative journalism and institutional accountability—Thorne indicated that the creative team intends to apply a similar approach to examining the social and political effects of media power. He emphasized that he and his collaborators are exploring how a society grapples with complex information flows and the responsibilities of those who shape public discourse.
Beyond its narrative premise, The Hack arrives at a moment when audiences are scrutinizing media ethics and the accountability mechanisms surrounding press organizations. The drama’s two-voice structure, with Davies and Cook guiding the audience through parallel strands of reporting and investigation, is meant to illuminate the complexity of pursuing truth in a system where publicity, politics and policing can influence outcomes. Tennant’s portrayal of Davies is designed to reflect the Guardian reporter’s persistence in pursuing stories that challenged powerful interests, while Carlyle’s Cook embodies the procedural side of justice in a case that extended well beyond a single newspaper.
The Hack’s storytelling approach is also intended to reflect the ongoing tension between sensational media narratives and careful, evidence-based journalism. Thorne has described the show as a celebration of journalists who called out their own industry, a framing that acknowledges the moral risk involved in such reporting. He has suggested that the project will present not only the ethical dilemmas faced by reporters but the courage involved in illuminating uncomfortable truths about the media landscape itself.
The Hack is positioned as a contemporary examination of how powerful institutions respond to investigative reporting. It draws a direct line from the 2011 phone-hacking scandal to current debates about media accountability, data privacy and the proper role of investigative journalism in a democratic society. While the historical events provide a clear anchor, the series aims to translate them into a narrative that resonates with today’s audiences, who continue to witness high-profile investigations of media practices, political influence and the mechanics of public consent.
With its release date set for September 24, ITV1 and ITVX will present the drama as part of a broader slate that seeks to explore how technological, political and social changes shape the relationship between the press and the public. The Hack’s creators and cast have stressed that the storytelling will strive for accuracy in depicting the investigative process while offering a nuanced portrait of the individuals who drove the real-world inquiry. As viewers prepare to see how Davies’s reporting intersected with police investigations and political actors, the series invites reflection on the ongoing responsibilities of journalists who expose wrongdoing, as well as on the safeguards needed to protect a free and accountable press.