[First Look] David Tennant Transforms Completely in First Look at Gripping New ITV Drama

Excitement is growing for ITV’s upcoming drama series The Hack, and now we have exclusive new images that bring the story to life. The show, created by the award-winning team of Jack Thorne, director Lewis Arnold, and producer Patrick Spence, focuses on the real-life investigation into phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s now-closed News of the World.

Deadline first announced the project earlier this year, and Australian streaming service Stan is co-producing the series. David Tennant stars as investigative journalist Nick Davies, who uncovered the phone hacking scandal more than ten years ago.

The pictures shared by Deadline show Tennant fully immersed in his role, alongside Robert Carlyle, who plays Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook. Cook was in charge of looking into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, a key part of the story told in The Hack.

The production took a full year of secret filming and editing. The show had several working titles before settling on The Hack. ITV and Stan have not announced when the series will premiere yet.

Along with Tennant and Carlyle, the cast includes a long list of talented actors such as Rose Leslie, Dougray Scott, Eve Myles, Adrian Lester, and Katherine Kelly. Other names involved are Kevin Doyle, Neil Maskell, Lara Pulver, Lee Ingleby, Pip Torrens, Lisa McGrillis, Sean Pertwee, Robert Bathurst, Richard Pepple, Nadia Albina, Phil Davis, Ace Bhatti, Charlie Brooks, Paul Kaye, and Steve Pemberton.

The phone hacking scandal was a huge story in the UK, leading to the closure of News of the World and the imprisonment of its former editor Andy Coulson. Nick Davies wrote an award-winning book called Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch about his investigation.

The issue made headlines again recently after Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers apologized to Prince Harry, reached a settlement, and admitted for the first time that unlawful activities had been carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.

The Hack is produced by ITV Studios, along with Anonymous and AC Chapter One, a company backed by United Agents and Casarotto Ramsay. The producers behind this project previously worked together on 2024’s hit drama Mr Bates, which broke viewing records and kept headlines buzzing for weeks.

Jack Thorne’s production company, One Shoe Films, is also involved. Together, Thorne, Arnold, and Spence have won a total of eight BAFTA awards.

First look shared by Deadline.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!