The Hack brings us David Tennant (The Thursday Murder Club) as journalist Nick Davies, who introduced to us the story of the 2008 phone hacking scandal from the News of The World, which even included the hacking of the phone of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in March 2022.
Piers Morgan was in charge of the paper, and to this day has claimed he knew nothing about it. But then Piers Morgan has endlessly been full of complete shit. If you ever also get blocked on Twitter by him, for bringing this issue up, it’s a badge of honour!
Nick’s boss, as such – since he’s technically freelance, is long-time editor and friend Alan Rusbridger (Toby Jones – Mr Burton), and to get to the heart of the matter, he needs to meet up with a man they’ll only call Mr Apollo (played by…. Oooh, someone just broke into tell me if I type his name, they’ll break my fingers!)
There’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall in this, with a surprising amount of humour, such as telling us how “some guesses have been made” as to the identity of Mr Apollo, and… Harry Hill turns up, for a kick-off. This does seem a bit out of place, though, even if it is amusing.
However, from then it’s very serious and very wordy, even bringing in The Sun’s Andy Coulson, later as the News of the World editor from 2003 to 2007 – also as dodgy as they come, since he was convicted over phone hacking, and then unsurprisingly ended up as the Tories’ communications director to then Prime Minister David Cameron.
But then, there’s a complete tonal shift when Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) enters the chat as DCS Dave Cook, as it goes back to 2002 and the review of the 1987 murder of private eye Daniel Morgan. It takes a bit of time to see how this storyline blends in, but it’s worth the wait. And here, despite Tennant’s earlier mugging to the camera, here, Carlyle does no such thing.
I’d heard The Hack was star-studded, but this drama is pulling out all the stops, also bringing in the currently omnipotent Eye Myles, plus Robert Glenister, Katherine Kelly, Nicola Stephenson, Charlie Brooks, Rose Leslie, Patrick Baladi, Kevin Doyle, Lucy Speed, Sean Pertwee, and Steve Pemberton as Rupert Murdoch!
It is great stuff to watch, and see how elements intertwine, but you do feel a bit exhausted at the end of each episode!
Thanks to our friends at ITV for the screeners prior to release.
The Hack continues next Wednesday on ITV at 9pm, and the whole series is available to stream on ITVX.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Lewis Arnold
Producer: Abi Bach
Writer/Creator: Jack Thorne
Music: Lorne Balfe, Joshua Pacey
Cast:
Nick Davies: David Tennant
DCS Dave Cook: Robert Carlyle
Alan Rusbridger: Toby Jones
DS Ezra Slater: Barry Sloane
DCI Callum Lockhart: Robert Glenister
Jacqui Hames: Eye Myles
Sheridan McCoid: Katherine Kelly
Cynthia Edmonds: Nicola Stephenson
Alice: Stephanie Levi-John
Sarah Montague: Lisa McGrillis
Stuart Kuttner: Pip Torrens
John Mullin: Alec Newman
Kim Vian: Charlie Brooks
DC Buzz Aldrin: Nabil Elouahabi
Charlotte Harris: Rose Leslie
Rupert Murdoch: Steve Pemberton
Rufus Duffy: Terence Maynard
Gill Phillips: Nadia Albina
Caroline Davies: Elisabeth Hopper
Sean Hoare: Sean Pertwee
Assistant Commissioner John Yates: Kevin Doyle
Molly Hatby: Lucy Speed
Glenn Mulcaire: George Russo
Mr Apollo: Adrian Lester
Mr Apollo 1: Harry Hill
Mr Apollo 2: Konnie Huq
Mr Apollo 3: Gabby Logan
Mr Apollo 4: Jonathan Ross
Young Nick Davies: Casper Knopf
Nick’s Mum: Sophie Bould
John Whittingdale: Patrick Baladi
Tom Watson: Daniel Ryan
Phil Davies: Jason Done
DS Hari Desai: Abhin Galeya
DI Graham Twyler: Richard Peppel
DC Susan Gangridge: Natalie Gavin
Jonathan Rees: Andrew Whipp
Sid Fillery: Ian Burfield
Glenn Vian: Jay Simpson
Garry Vian: Ricci Harnett
Jimmy Cook: Rocky Marshall
Keith Sharpe: Neal Barry
Nick Ross: Oliver Milburn
Daniel Morgan (re-enactment): Joel Morris
Jonathan Rees (re-enactment): Nathan Wright
Lily Cook: Bille Gadsdon
Leo Cook: Casper Prior
Sam Eldwick: Silas Carson
Jacqueline Cook: Nancy Sullivan
Liam Sayles: Michael Elkin
Dick Fedorico: Gavin Spokes
Cmdr Andrew Baker: Nick Harris
Rebekah Brooks: Rosalie Craig
Robert Mortimer QC: Jamie Parker
Bacon: Anya McKenna-Bruce
Beans: Benji Bloom
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.