Starring David Tennant and Robert Carlyle, «The Hack» dramatizes the journalistic investigation that exposed the phone-hacking scandal linked to the News of the World, as well as its connections to the still-unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan.
«The Hack» follows two investigations inspired by real events in recent British history. Journalist Nick Davies (David Tennant) seeks to demonstrate that the tabloid News of the World illegally accessed voicemail messages to obtain information on public figures and other targets of media interest. In parallel, the narrative revisits the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, a case that raised longstanding concerns about police corruption and institutional failure. Created by Jack Thorne («Adolescence»), the series interweaves these two strands across its narrative.
Davies’s investigation at The Guardian forms the series’ central thread. Alongside it, «The Hack» repeatedly returns to the Daniel Morgan case, revisiting the 1987 killing in a south London car park. Within this second strand emerges Dave Cook, played by Robert Carlyle, involved in the inquiries surrounding the murder.
By linking two investigations separated by decades, «The Hack» builds its narrative through a constant movement between journalism and criminal inquiry. It tracks the progression of Davies’s reporting while returning to Morgan’s case, whose unresolved nature continues to raise questions about police conduct and the relationship between private investigators and the tabloid press. This alternation situates both stories within a broader context, where illegal media practices and institutional failures appear as interconnected elements of the same ecosystem.
In its depiction of journalistic work, the series privileges the processes of investigation and verification underpinning the revelations published by The Guardian. It follows the stages of Davies’s inquiry, from gathering testimonies and analysing documents to confirming unlawful practices. Rather than relying on spectacle, the narrative centres on routines and editorial decisions preceding publication, emphasising the importance of evidence and sources in a case that would ultimately expose the scale of the British phone-hacking scandal.
Visually, «The Hack» adopts a restrained approach, favouring institutional settings and work environments such as newsrooms, meeting rooms, offices, and police facilities. The direction avoids excessive dramatization, opting instead for a measured mise-en-scène that follows the investigations through dialogue, interviews, and formal confrontations between journalists, lawyers, and institutional representatives. This register aligns the series with a more classical investigative drama, where tension emerges primarily from the accumulation of information and the public implications of its disclosure.
What ultimately distinguishes «The Hack» is the way it brings together two stories that shaped public debate in the United Kingdom. By placing side by side the journalistic investigation into phone hacking and the prolonged, unsuccessful attempts to resolve Daniel Morgan’s murder, the TV series highlights enduring tensions between the press, the police, and institutional power. Without resorting to large-scale reenactments, the narrative remains focused on processes, evidence, and consequences. The result is an investigative drama that revisits one of the most controversial episodes in recent British media history, underscoring its lasting impact on public perceptions of journalism and institutions.