# The Hack (2025)

> A seven-episode British dramatization of the News of the World phone hacking exposé running alongside the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/192837

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, crime
- Created by: Jack Thorne
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: David Tennant, Toby Jones, Robert Carlyle, Rose Leslie, Steve Pemberton, Eve Myles, Dougray Scott, Katherine Kelly
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35615598/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: mild
- Tone: sober, tense, unsparing, dogged, grim

## Synopsis

The Hack (2025) is a British limited series created by Jack Thorne for ITV1, a seven-episode dramatization built on real events. David Tennant plays Guardian reporter Nick Davies, who pursues the News of the World phone hacking scandal alongside editor Alan Rusbridger (Toby Jones), while Robert Carlyle plays detective chief superintendent Dave Cook, whose stalled inquiry into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan runs in parallel. The engine is patient, stubborn fact gathering: reporters chase proof against tabloid denials, police reluctance and the quiet protection that powerful institutions extend to one another. Each episode moves between the newsroom and the investigation room, so the drama builds through accumulating evidence and frustration rather than action set pieces. Spanning 2002 to 2012 and set in London, the series draws on the atmosphere of a grey, pressured press world and a murder case that never gets closed. Its tone is sober, tense and unsparing, with a dogged moral weight that carries the viewer through years of obstruction. Rose Leslie, Steve Pemberton as Rupert Murdoch, Eve Myles and Dougray Scott also appear in the cast. Fans of Spotlight, State of Play and Official Secrets will find resonance in its portrait of journalism confronting power.

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