From award-winning Adolescence screenwriter Jack Thorne, and the team behind Mr Bates vs The Post Office, comes The Hack – a 7-part ITV drama covering the infamous phone hacking scandal of the nineties and noughties.
David Tennant heads up an all-star cast, also including the likes of Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones, in the show that depicts the murky wrongdoings of the now-defunct News of the World.
Set between 2002 and 2012, the drama shifts between the work of investigative journalist Nick Davies (David Tennant), who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World, and the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (Robert Carlyle.)
When shows dramatising real events land on our screens, viewers are usually keen to find out what really happened – here’s the true story behind The Hack on ITV.
The Hack: What really happened?
During the height of their popularity in the nineties, tabloid newspapers were flying off the shelves, with the News of the World being one such publication selling up to three million copies per week.
In a bid to get bigger and better stories, News of the World journalists sometimes worked with private investigators to access voicemails of the royal family and any celebrities of interest.
Hacking the voicemails wasn’t even especially difficult – the early mobiles of the age came with a default factory-set personal identification number, which was usually 0000 or 1234. Although advised to change this PIN, not many did.
Anyone could then ring the mobile of the person of interest and hope the call went to voicemail. If their PIN was still set to the default, whoever was calling the mobile could use it to access private voicemails.
When concerns over the movements and private medical appointments of Prince William made their way into the tabloids, questions were raised over how this information was being leaked.
Investigations led to News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, and to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Both were arrested and charged with hacking voicemails in 2006 – both were also sent to prison in 2007 when found guilty.
The News of the World claimed Goodman was working alone and denied widespread hacking. Despite maintaining no knowledge of the hacking, the editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, resigned anyway.
Coulson went on to become communications director of David Cameron’s Conservative Party, and the case was considered closed.
However, in 2009, rumours of phone hacking were still circulating, and Guardian journalist Nick Davies continued investigating the matter. Despite Davies publishing reports of widespread hacking of celebrities and politicians, and secret payouts, police maintained a refusal to open the case.
(Image credit: ITV)
In 2011, police began investigating the phone hacking allegations. Named Operation Weeting, those involved slowly uncovered alleged bribery and claims of computer hacking by the News of the World.
There was public outcry and further fuel to the hacking scandal flames when it came to light that the phone of Milly Dowler had been hacked, which affected the police investigation into her killing. The 13-year-old had gone missing on her way home from school on March 21, 2002.
She had been the victim of serial killer Levi Bellfield, and news of her hacked voicemail, along with those of other crime victims, led to David Cameron launching a new inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics.
In 2010, the Guardian said Mulcaire had been hired for hacking by News of the World’s chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, and assistant editor, Greg Miskiw – both worked directly for Coulson.
Until this point, Coulson and other top News UK executives had maintained that Mulcaire and Clive Goodman worked alone. This news suggested Andy Coulson knew about the hacking all along, and he was then arrested. He was later sentenced to 18 months in prison
It’s believed some hackings had been carried out by Mulcaire, also while Rebekah Brooks was at the helm of the newspaper, thus implicating her in the investigation also. Eventually, on July 7, 2011, the News of the World announced its closure, with its final edition landing on shelves on July 10.
In July 2011, Rebekah Brooks, by then News International’s CEO, resigned and was arrested alongside other top executives. However, in 2014, she was found not guilty alongside five other defendants, also found not guilty.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of News International, was called to a parliamentary inquiry and later resigned as director. Former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and news editor Greg Miskiw were also tried and given six-month sentences, and former reporter James Weatherup was handed a four-month suspended sentence as part of the hacking investigation.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.womanandhome.com ’
