The Hack: New ITV drama explores phone hacking scandal
New ITV true-crime drama, The Hack, hits our screens today (Wednesday 24 September 2025). This seven-part series tells the story of those who exposed the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World and the subsequent fall out. The drama interweaves the phone hacking scandal with the shocking murder of Daniel Morgan, and covers how reporters targeted those at the heart of the investigation.
The Hack’s star-studded cast includes David Tennant, Toby Jones and Robert Carlyle. The series will shed light on and demonstrate the extent to which phone hacking impacted victims. It is important to remember phone hacking was not limited to public figures; many entirely private individuals were unlawfully targeted, including family members and friends of those in the public eye, employees and, most worryingly, victims of crime.
Phone hacking is often used as a short hand to describe the wrongdoing, but the unlawful activities carried out were much wider in scope and included “blagging” (obtaining private information by deception); unlawful credit checks; and obtaining telephone billing data and highly sensitive medical records, to name but a few.
Hamlins has been at the forefront of the phone hacking litigation against both News Group Newspapers Limited (the publisher of The Sun and the News of the World) and MGN Limited (the publisher of The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspapers).
We have acted in an individual capacity for multiple claimants, as well as acting as Lead Solicitor since 2016 in the long running phone litigation action against News Group Newspapers Limited. We are appointed as Lead Solicitor by the Court to co-ordinate all claims within the litigation and to pursue the overarching “generic” case on their behalf.
Most recently, in January 2025, our client Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Tom Watson), alongside Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, won a landmark unlawful information gathering claim against News Group Newspapers Limited (NGN), the publishers of The Sun and previously The News of the World.
Through our work supporting claimants in the phone hacking litigation, Hamlins has played a leading role in exposing the full extent of unlawful information gathering activity by the newspapers and seeking appropriate redress for the misuse of our clients’ private information. We have successfully acted for numerous individuals and secured many millions of pounds in damages on behalf of our clients, alongside multiple public apologies.
Find out more about on our work in this area and the expertise of our renowned Reputation and Privacy team.