David Tennant has left many doing a double take in his new role (Picture: Alan Chapman/ Dave Benett/ Getty Images)
David Tennant has transformed to play a journalist in a drama about the infamous phone hacking scandal.
The upcoming seven-part ITV series The Hack was written by the BAFTA, Tony and Olivier award winning screenwriter, Jack Thorne, best known for his work on the This is England miniseries’, His Dark Materials and the Enola Holmes film series.
Coming from the production team behind last year’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which triggered a massive national response, this new show stars David Tennant, Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones.
It’s been teased that the series is set between 2002 and 2012 and ‘interweaves two real life stories, the work of investigative journalist Nick Davies (Tennant) who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World’.
‘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 (Carlyle).’
Meanwhile Jones plays The Guardian’s former editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger.
He plays journalist Nick Davies in the upcoming ITV drama The Hack (Picture: ITV)
The series also stars Toby Jones as The Guardian’s former editor-in-chief Alan Rusdridger(Picture: ITV)
ITV released first-look images from the show today, with one showing Tennant in character with grey hair standing in a newsroom. Another shows Carlyle on the banks of the Thames across from the Houses of Parliament.
Meanwhile the third shows Tennant sitting in a courtroom alongside Jones.
After the series was filmed last year, it’s currently in post-production.
Speaking about the shocking real-life events that inspired the show, Thorne said it charted a ‘strange and deceptive piece of our recent history’.
Robert Carlyle is former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (Picture: ITV)
‘One with so many layers to it. I thought, as someone who is interested in politics, I understood everything that happened. I did not. It’s a fight for the truth that really shocked me,’ he continued.
‘That is why it matters to tell this story now in an age where the truth seems more in danger than ever. It is a true honour to be bringing this story to the screen alongside David, Robert, Toby, Lewis, Patrick, Joe and Abi. I hope we find a way to do justice to the complexity of what happened and of celebrating the incredible reporting that sits underneath it.’
The series also stars Rose Leslie, Dougray Scott, Eve Myles, Adrian Lester, Katherine Kelly and Steve Pemberton.
Davies was the journalist responsible for uncovering the widespread use of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper, which shut down in 2011, while it’s former editor Andy Coulson was sent to prison for 18 months three years later.
Davies was responsible for uncovering the infamous phone hacking scandal (Picture: James Veysey/ Shutterstock)
Rusbridger was in the top job at the newspaper from 1995 until 2015 (Picture: Chris Young/ The Canadian Press via AP)
The series also tells the story of private investigator Daniel Morgan, who was murdered in 1987 (Picture: PA)
Cook ran the fifth and final investigation into Morgan’s murder in 2006 (Picture: Chris Young/ PA Wire)
Just last week Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers agreed to pay ‘substantial damages’ and apologised to Prince Harry after a legal battle that saw him claim unlawful intrusion into his life over decades.
Meanwhile private investigator Morgan was murdered in 1987. His business partner Jonathan Reese would go on to work for News of the World.
In 2007 the Met announced Morgan was likely murdered because he was ‘about expose a south London drugs network possibly involving corrupt police officers’.
Cook ran the fifth and final investigation into Morgan’s murder in 2006.
The Hack will air on ITV later this year.
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