The Hack (2025) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
1
MAN: As a journalist, you are
consumed by two questions constantly:
how to tell a story,
but perhaps more crucially,
why to tell a story.
Imagine a country.
Nice weather. Let's give it nice weather.
Nice weather for England, anyway.
Imagine the people in this country
believe they are living in a democracy.
Believe in their own freedom.
But they are being abused
by a power so everyday
they don't know to look for it.
A treacherous combination of press,
the police, and politicians,
that hide in plain sight.
Imagine a country
where that concealment was
Imagine a country where
where the news organisations
- Shit!
- (CAR HORN HONKS)
Imagine it all deleted.
(SIGHS) Florid nonsense.
My name is Nick Davies.
I am a journalist,
and this is a story that ends
in seven major police investigations,
nearly 40 convictions,
and some of the most
powerful people in this country
being brought to their knees.
(GROANS) Too grand, too grand, too grand.
(CLEARS THROAT)
My name is Nick Davies.
I'm a journalist.
Good morning. I'll just check in.
This all started with Stuart Kuttner.
Hello.
(GROANS) No.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
This is the most troubling story
I've ever written.
A story about the abuse of power
and the concealment of truth.
Hi. Nick Davies for the Today programme.
I'm late.
British journalism is sloppy
and morally bankrupt.
That is the claim of the journalist
Nick Davies, who's written a book
that shows how often
newspapers use illegal methods
for getting their stories.
It's called Flat Earth News,
and Nick Davies joins us now.
- Good morning.
- Hi.
You say "sloppy"
because newspapers use press releases
rather than getting their own stories
and "morally bankrupt"
because of the illegality involved.
Really, the root that binds together
all the different themes
is that the logic of journalism
has been overwhelmed by
the logic of commercialism.
Journalists no longer have
the time or the resources
to do their jobs properly.
Instead, they're just passive processors
of unchecked, second-hand material.
Okay, but you You also You go
much further in suggesting that
- there has been criminality involved.
- Sure.
And that's generally accepted
within the press.
Okay. So, principally, that involves
hiring private investigators.
They hire private investigators
to get your bank statements,
your credit card statements,
your itemised phone bills,
your tax records,
even your health records
these creatures are getting.
All of that is illegal.
Okay. We're joined by John Mullin,
who is the editor
of The Independent on Sunday,
and Stuart Kuttner,
who's managing editor
of News of the World.
John Mullin, do you recognise this?
Well, I ploughed my way
through the first half of the book,
not the second half so far,
and no one can deny
that life in journalism
is much harder than maybe
it was 20, 30 years ago.
But to say that journalism as a whole
is a passive processor of news?
- I think that's erroneous.
- SARAH: Stuart Kuttner?
Yes, I'll tell you what I think.
I think, frankly,
listening to Nick Davies,
I thought he was speaking
from a newsroom on another planet.
- (CHUCKLES)
- It is totally unrecognisable to me.
Many years in newspapers in Fleet Street.
Now, of course, at the News of the World.
But what did he say that was so wrong?
Well, he talks about, if you like,
shortcuts, PR interests,
commercial interest.
I have to tell you, none of
my News of the World journalists
would recognise that at all.
But what about the way
these people get the stories
and access to personal information?
Well, if it happens,
it it shouldn't happen.
It happened once
at the News of the World.
The reporter was fired,
he went to prison, the editor resigned.
And while Nick is talking about all this,
I notice he doesn't mention
The Guardian's own act of criminality
when The Guardian forged
the signature of a cabinet minister
Okay, I-I-I don't want to
go into details of the story.
I think the charge that Nick Davies
KUTTNER: Sarah,
you may not want to go into detail,
but Nick makes a broad-brush,
sweeping attack on our profession,
which I happen to believe
is an honourable profession.
(VOICES MINGLE, ECHO)
- (PHONES RINGING)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
MAN: Hello, Mr
(PHONES CONTINUE RINGING)
You hear it?
I wish I hadn't.
(SIGHS)
You're too kind.
I did say, appearing on the Today
programme to attack journalism
wasn't exactly the most sensible idea.
Listen, before I go home, I wanted
to talk to you about something.
Good thing was, you weren't
representing The Guardian.
You were talking about your book.
My book.
Although, Kuttner did have a good go
at trying to besmirch us through you.
I want out.
(SIGHS) Do you know anything
about baking competitions?
No.
I want to know how many people
cheat at baking competitions.
A round number.
Sounds like exactly the sort of thing
the Guardian should be investigating.
I don't mean out altogether.
I'd like to go to Brussels,
investigate a whole new horizon,
something well paid.
- Naturally.
- That will allow me to commute.
The kids are old enough now
to be able to
I need you here.
- (PHONES RINGING)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
ALAN: Sadiq Khan. Bugged.
Forty-year convention breached.
And why? Keep the Americans happy.
Needs a good journalist.
Alan, I'm knackered.
Nobody likes me. I know.
Oh, come on.
I like you some of the time.
And I'm sure there are
a few others who-who also
Please.
Self-pity is not a redeeming quality.
We'll talk tomorrow.
I'm freelance precisely so that
I don't need to talk to you tomorrow.
You're freelance
with more or less a sole employer.
I say you should talk to me tomorrow.
Hmm?
We've all been roasted
by Stuart bloody Kuttner.
Bye.
Let me explain. Alan is, um
Well, we grew up together.
In journalism, that is.
- And he's always understood Sorry.
- (PHONE VIBRATING)
- Yep.
- MAN ON PHONE: Nick Davies?
Who's this?
My name is
- (BLEEP)
- Redacted, sorry.
We'll call him Mr Apollo, because
Um, well, actually, because he's
It-It doesn't matter.
How did you get this number?
Listen, Kuttner made a mistake.
Well, I made several.
Chief amongst them
appearing on the Today programme.
He said it happened once.
It happened once.
It happened once
at the News of the World.
The reporter was fired,
he went to prison, the editor resigned.
You're talking about phone hacking.
Nick, your book
only scratched the surface.
We have to meet face to face,
somewhere absolutely discreet.
I think you'll like what I have.
Where and when?
In the beginning, it was next to nothing.
Two men were arrested
for hacking phones in 2006:
a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire
And the royal editor of
the News of the World, Clive Goodman.
The sentences they received were short.
The attention they got, limited.
But the crime was unusual.
They had discovered they could access
other people's voicemail messages,
and they spent months eavesdropping
on three of Prince William's staff
at Clarence House.
How? They didn't say.
Why? For the discovery
of private information.
It was the start of the next
six years of my life.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
To be clear, I've never
told anyone who Mr Apollo is.
So some guesses have been made.
Bad guess.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
No.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
No. I'm sorry. It's not you.
- (KNOCKING ON DOOR)
- Okay. (CLEARS THROAT)
Oh, come on.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(SIGHS)
Hi.
- You coming in, or?
- Sure.
Wow, this is nice.
(CHURCH BELLS RINGING IN DISTANCE)
Nice choice of room.
Just to check. Is The Guardian paying?
Because if so, I'd implore you
to stay away from that mini bar.
Mulcaire, in the trial,
- he said he'd hacked other
- Five non-royals.
I remember. Yes. Um, Elle Macpherson,
Sky Andrew, Max Clifford
He's a liar.
Kuttner is a liar,
and one of the five is suing them.
Which one?
Well, that five is just
the tip of the iceberg.
Hacking phones at the
News of the World has been endemic.
Endemic?
Mm.
They pick up their leads
by intercepting voicemails,
and only then do they get
photographs and quotes
so as to lay a false trail.
To pretend they found the story
through legitimate means.
They've hacked thousands.
Here. Dial a number.
Someone who's likely to not answer.
(DIAL TONE)
ALAN: This is Alan Rusbridger.
Please leave
That's your phone-a-friend?
The editor of The Guardian?
- Press nine.
- (BEEPS)
AUTOMATED VOICE:
Please enter your 4-digit PIN.
Now enter one, two, three, four.
That's the factory setting.
(BEEPING)
AUTOMATED VOICE:
Welcome to your voicemail.
You have one new message.
WOMAN: Alan, it's Mummy.
I'm just calling about Jill Wyatt.
She won best sponge again,
and I'm sure she cheated
- (BEEPS)
- I don't wanna hear this.
- It's that easy?
- Mm.
It doesn't even need
a Glenn Mulcaire most of the time.
And you're saying this was widespread?
Glenn's main job was
that when it got tricky,
unlike with your Alan,
was to blag the mobile phone companies
into resetting the celebrities' PIN codes
to their original factory setting.
One, two, three, four.
- (PHONE VIBRATES)
- That's Alan.
- Please.
- ALAN: Who is this?
- Hi. Yeah, it's Nick.
- (ALAN GROANS)
Listen, change the voicemail
settings on your phone.
And how do I do that?
Ask a young person. I've got to go. Bye.
(BEEPS)
Who is suing?
(INHALES DEEPLY)
The person who is, is currently
trying to get Scotland Yard
to hand over evidence
they collected and did nothing with
when they arrested Mulcaire.
It's evidence that could (SIGHS)
burn, fuck and destroy everything.
Twice over.
You won't tell me which one
of the five it is, will you?
I will tell you
that you're missing two names.
Gordon Taylor and Simon Hughes.
Will you go on the record?
(SIGHS)
If you dig, it comes from you.
I-I can I can confirm things,
but (SIGHS)
It's just another story
of journos behaving badly.
You're not interested.
It's interesting, but
you should talk to someone else.
Do you realise I could lose my job
just by talking to you?
Don't worry.
This conversation never happened.
No, no, no. That's not my point, Nick.
You Think. Think who edited the paper.
Think about where he sits now.
You're talking about Andy Coulson.
Stop him.
Shit.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Mind the gap.
Stand clear of the doors, please.
Andy Coulson, a rapid ascent journalist.
From a local reporter
to Showbiz at The Sun,
he was made editor of
News of the World in 2003.
Even after he resigned in 2007
over the original phone hacking case,
it was seen as honourable,
him carrying the can
for the one rogue reporter.
Not me really, guv.
But if he was If he is
If this is endemic,
he's David Cameron's
communications director.
For him to be involved
in widespread criminality
No, no. Bad idea.
(DOORBELL RINGS)
I'm not late.
WOMAN: It would be fine
if you were to be a bit late.
You don't need to be so worried.
Are they ready?
- WOMAN: Are they ever ready?
- Kids?
WOMAN: You okay?
Kids?
- BOY: Yes, coming.
- Ooh, you're anxious to go, then.
Sorry. How are you, et cetera?
I'm fine, et cetera. Are you all right?
Never better.
Really?
I heard you on the radio.
- Hmm.
- That sort of performance help sales?
- Oh, I would doubt it.
- Mm.
- I'm, um I am worried about
- (BLEEP)
I'm not going to reveal my child's name.
Let's call him Beans.
He comes home, locks himself in his room.
- I have tried to talk to him, but
- He avoids all questions.
So, do we bring the school in?
Let's get the details,
make sure he wants the help.
Oh, you sound like a journalist.
Let me try.
Let me try.
Okay.
NICK: Got a new recipe.
- Okay, Dad.
- Stuffed tomato thing.
Yeah, nice. Sounds good.
I'll call you when it's ready.
It's Turkish.
- GIRL: Yep.
- NICK: So
I met someone today.
A source.
He was pissed off
with what Kuttner said on the radio.
Okay.
Hacking was "endemic", he said,
at News of the World.
And someone is now suing Scotland Yard
for information on what was hacked.
Now, I know I know it's one of
either Elle Macpherson, Simon Hughes,
Gordon Taylor, Sky Andrew,
or Max Clifford.
But I don't know which one.
What do you think?
Do I dig?
Try to find out who it is?
If I find them, it might
We might get some evidence
that proves foul play
was a bit more widespread.
Imagine what it does to Andy Coulson.
He's about to He could soon have
keys to 10 Downing Street.
Did Cameron even do
a fit-and-proper-person test on him?
Did he even look into Coulson's past?
It's a good angle, but another
"tabloids behaving badly" story?
I said the same thing.
And who wants to kick a bee's nest?
Murdoch, you know?
This source.
Has he got under your skin?
No. I just wanted to
talk it out with someone. You.
Ah. Always grateful
to be your sounding board.
Go home, Alan.
Who says I'm in the office?
NICK: We'll always have Brussels. Bye.
(FOOTBALL COMMENTARY)
It's creepy when you do that.
Stare at me like that.
How are you?
Why are you asking?
If there ever is anything
you need to discuss
Yes, Dad. I know.
(COMMENTARY CONTINUES)
I, um I never much liked school.
I'm not being bullied.
I always saw school as a necessity
Why does everyone always
think I'm being bullied?
not a virtue. There was a guy
who-who-who used to hit us.
Another kid?
Actually, a teacher.
He used to
God, he used to really scare me.
I-I never used to do well.
Um
Well, I never used to do well with fear,
but also the thing
I remember most clearly:
rage.
I heard you on the radio.
You listen to the Today programme?
Mum makes us listen to
or read everything you do.
"You've an impressive dad,"
and she says it like,
"He may be a total dick,
but he's impressive."
(SCOFFS) All right.
You know the story of the dung beetle?
God. Really, again?
- If you want to fly free
- First you have to eat a lot of shit.
Sometimes you have to ignore bullies.
- I'm not being bullied.
- Sometimes you have to puncture them.
- I'm not, Dad,
- There's always a way to
There's always a chance
When the wankers
when they suddenly seem vulnerable.
When they are,
you have to clamp your pincers
onto them as hard as possible.
Do not let go.
(COMMENTARY CONTINUES)
Tomatoes in the oven.
Ready in ten. They're Turkish.
I love you very much.
(WOMAN'S DISTORTED VOICE)
You stupid child.
You are such a disappointment.
It won't surprise you to know
we didn't get the rights
to use their masthead.
Or this one.
(PHONE DIALLING)
- (PHONE RINGS)
- Hi, it's Nick Davies.
You still have that contact
at Scotland Yard?
MAN 1: No, sorry, mate.
I really cannot be
getting involved with that one.
You know how it is.
NICK: But Andy Coulson will soon
be sitting in Downing Street.
MAN 1: Yeah, and Murdoch's already
sitting on Downing Street.
Yeah.
Yes, I appreciate that.
I understand.
If I could get some evidence of this.
- MAN 1: No.
- MAN 2: No.
- MAN 3: No.
- All right. Thanks. Bye.
(PHONE RINGS)
NICK: Oh, hi. Thanks for calling back.
Do you have the number for
Name redacted.
- See you later.
- Yeah.
Okay, great. Zero
seven, seven, zero, zero,
nine, zero, zero, nine,
five, four. Got that.
Thank you.
Hi. I'm wondering whether
I could speak to
whoever represents Elle Macpherson.
No, no, I'm not a fan.
No, I'm wondering whether
she's currently suing
the News of the World.
Is that Max?
Hi, it's Nick Davies.
We met at The Orwell Prize.
I'm actually after a bit of insight.
Well, no. Just give me a chance.
(SIGHS)
Detective Buzz Aldrin?
It's not his real name.
My name is Nick Davies.
I'm a Guardian journalist.
I believe you were looking
into the Clive Goodman case?
I'm very busy, Mr Davies.
I've followed your work, Buzz.
I know how principled you are.
I think you know that this
that what is happening here
is acutely in the public interest,
and if it's all dealt with
in behind-stairs deals,
it'll help no one.
I can't talk to journalists.
You don't have to talk.
All I need to know is which
of the five non-royal names
in the Clive Goodman case
is now suing the paper.
Cough.
That's all I ask.
Cough when I hit the right name.
You are very, very persistent.
Because what I understand is that
those five names represent thousands,
thousands of people who've had
their privacy stolen by this newspaper.
Please.
Elle Macpherson, Simon Hughes,
Gordon Taylor
- (BUZZ COUGHS)
- Thank you.
You did the right thing.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Sorry, excuse me. Charlotte Harris!
Nick Davies at The Guardian.
I believe you represent Gordon Taylor.
I'm due in court.
I understand that he's suing News
of the World for breach of privacy.
Mr Davies, whether or not
Mr Taylor is my client,
I have no interest
in talking to any press. Sorry.
These so-called journalists bring
our whole industry into disrepute.
You're very persistent.
Well, can you can you tell me then
about John Hewison?
He's also a claimant, is he not?
And the interesting thing is,
if you ask the public
who those two are,
they might know Taylor.
They wouldn't know Hewison
because he's a lawyer.
Like you.
He's entrusted with
the secrets of others,
in the secrets of sports stars
in his case
which makes him interesting
to the News of the World.
This is a news operation,
which is trying to undermine
the confidentiality
that crucially underlies your profession.
If you want to fight it,
well, you're a tiger, but they're lions.
The Guardian's a lion, too.
Well, what if I'm neither
a lion nor a tiger?
What if I am a walrus?
Walruses can be fierce.
And what if you're a
See, I'm trying to think
of an annoying animal.
- Has Mr Taylor settled?
- (LAUGHS)
What evidence do you have?
Are there other claimants?
I'm sure you must you must be
looking to engage more clients.
Privacy cases like this
can sometimes (STUTTERS)
What did Max Mosley get?
Sixty thousand pounds, and costs.
Line enough up,
you could have a class-action suit
worth a lot of money.
You were doing well, reasonably well,
until you brought money into it.
I can't talk to you about specific cases,
but I can tell you
I can tell you that there is
so much more to come.
(PHONE BEEPS)
(PHONE VIBRATING)
- Yep.
- MR APOLLO: You've got the name.
Mr Apollo, you're back.
Are you watching me?
MR APOLLO: I take it you're
still interested in this case, then?
NICK: The deer is in the fireplace.
The lion is alight.
MR APOLLO: What the fuck are you doing?
NICK: Sorry, I make
I have a tendency to make jokes.
I was trying to trying
to be a Russian spy.
MR APOLLO: We could be spotted
at any moment.
- Do you know the risks?
- NICK: I do. Sorry.
MR APOLLO: So you found the lawyer.
Is this some kind of a test?
Do I get a prize at the end of it?
Do you know how much
they're settling for?
No.
£400,000 in damages,
another £300,000 in legal expenses,
and their associates
are getting £140,000 in damages,
plus their legal.
The whole package comes in
at just over a million pounds.
Now that's a lot,
even for News International to stomach.
But,
Max Mosley was They accused him
of being a Nazi at an orgy.
- All he got was
- £60,000, yes.
Now you're getting it.
NICK: Look, I need you.
I need paperwork or-or audio recording,
some sort of hard evidence,
I don't even have to publish it.
I just need to be able
to show The Guardian.
The preliminary hearings, in 2007,
they're public record.
That's not enough.
MR APOLLO: All right.
NICK: What is it?
MR APOLLO: You'll work it out.
- Can I use it?
- Nope.
I need to be able to use it.
Summarise it, yes.
Show it to your editor, yes.
Quote from it, no.
Can I have your number?
Be careful, Nick.
This could get nasty.
(PHONE RINGING)
ALAN: I have a piece on MPs expenses
I want you to have a look at.
NICK: Okay.
ALAN: Do you want some gingerbread?
My mother made it. It's not very good.
NICK: I have evidence.
ALAN: How long did that take you to get?
NICK: Maybe two months,
ALAN: And you've never mentioned it?
They're paying out millions
to cover this up.
This is a story.
Nick, newspapers
reporting on newspapers
But the editor of that newspaper
is about to enter government.
If Andy Coulson was complicit
in hacking phones as an editor,
imagine what he might do
to enemies of the government.
ALAN: Show me what you have.
NICK: Okay, so,
printout of an e-mail.
ross.hindley@news-of-the-world
to shadownmen@yahoo.co.uk
It's Glenn Mulcaire's e-mail.
His e-mail was shadowmen?
Hmm, it says, "transcript for Neville."
"Wednesday, 29th of June, 2005."
I can read.
And Neville is
Neville Thurlbeck,
Chief reporter at News of the World.
There are transcripts
of 35 voicemail messages,
which had been left on the phones
of Gordon Taylor and a colleague.
- It wasn't just Clive Goodman.
- (RUSTLING)
And then, there's this.
Greg Miskiw, assistant editor
approving a payment of £7000,
to Mulcaire for a story on Gordon Taylor.
And the police have access
to all of this and more.
Can we use these?
No.
Can we get your Mr Apollo
to speak on the record?
How long have we known each other?
I have no idea.
I had no interest
in trying to work that out.
It'll make me feel old.
Nearly thirty years. This is it, Alan.
There is an industry making huge profit
from invading people's private lives,
and Rupert Murdoch's bullying tabloids
have explicitly encouraged it
and are buying it.
This matters.
Tin hats on.
Good. Okay.
I'll-I'll let you know
when I've got something.
Thanks, Alan.
You may think you lead a private life,
but The Guardian has uncovered evidence
to suggest otherwise.
This strange story began in 2006
with the arrest of two men,
The News of the World,
Royal Editor, Clive Goodman,
and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire.
The men pled guilty
to phone hacking charges,
and served prison sentences.
Following an investigation,
the paper told the world that hacking
was the work of one rogue reporter.
The story should have ended there.
But it didn't.
(SIGHS)
RUPERT MURDOCH: From the beginning on,
newspapers have prospered for one reason,
giving readers the news they want.
Shit.
Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
(CLEARS THROAT)
Keep it simple.
Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers
had paid out more than £1,000,000
to settle legal cases
that threatened to reveal evidence
of his journalists' repeated involvement
in the use of criminal methods
to get stories.
ALAN: Payments secured secrecy
over out-of-court settlements
in three cases that threatened
to expose evidence
of Murdoch journalists
using private investigators
to illegally hack into
the mobile phone messages
of numerous public figures.
Cabinet ministers.
MPs, actors, and sports stars
were all targets
of private investigators.
Are you sure we can safely
list all those groups?
We already have evidence of actors,
Elle Macpherson,
- sport stars, Sky Andrew
- MPs then?
I have an invoice
recording a payment
to a private investigator
showing John Prescott had been targeted,
it's likely hacking.
This article has no named sources.
There's no evidence on the record.
Alan thinks we have enough, I do, too.
And we haven't got right of reply.
It's a declaration of bloody war.
Murdoch and Brooks,
they have nuclear weapons.
Right now they do.
But we can neuter
their nuclear weapons with this.
If we do, Fleet Street
will fall in behind us,
the police soon after.
And they have when they
find the information
- they already have.
- Information they've lost?
Information they don't know they have.
This is The Met we're talking about.
Look, once we publish,
they'll be forced to act.
Can we name Coulson?
Now you're worried
I haven't gone far enough.
No, it makes it more
in the public interest
if we can name him.
I did ring conservative HQ
right to reply, Gill.
I asked about
the Gordon Taylor settlement.
His office replied,
it didn't ring any bells.
We've nothing that directly links him.
I agree.
But we can say,
that he was the editor in place
when journalists
for whom he was responsible,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
That's good.
That's good.
Yes?
I'm uneasy, but if you're sure
I am.
RUFUS: It reads well.
Okay.
At half past five in the afternoon
on Wednesday, 8th of July, 2009,
we posted my news story
on The Guardian website.
As it ran, The Guardian news desk
asked a reporter, Caroline Davies,
to call John Prescott,
ex-Deputy Prime Minister,
to get a quote.
I told him the gist of the story,
and he said, "Fookin' 'ell!"
You'd have thought the police
in the committing of a criminal offence,
and clearly it is, against anyone,
and particularly you'd have thought,
a cabinet member,
they would have come
and told me about it.
I would have asked them,
"What are you going to do about it?"
Prescott roared.
But the house fell silent.
Anyone?
Anyone?
And Fleet Street,
well
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Fleet Street essentially
did their best to ignore the story.
Ask any journalist
what a great story depends on.
They'll say the same thing.
A new angle,
one at least journalists can get behind.
We are reliant on our own profession
to follow up on stories
so they have impact.
To make a story newsworthy
requires multiple news outlets.
But on this one,
crickets.
My company couldn't have settled
the legal action
like The Guardian claims.
If they had done,
I'd have known about it.
I tried to get this out
as wide as possible.
I talked on radio stations, TV shows.
I took constant calls from agents of
public figures asking,
"Am I on that list?"
I slept about four hours.
And then at five in the afternoon,
I was surprised to hear that
John Yates, Assistant Commissioner
of Scotland Yard,
was preparing to make a statement.
Good afternoon.
I was not involved in the original case
and clearly come at this
with an independent mind.
In my opinion, what I've seen
is a most careful investigation
by very experienced detectives.
He proceeded to gently demolish our work.
We'd suggested there were
thousands of victims.
The potential targets
may have run into hundreds of people.
But our inquiry showed
that they only used the tactic
against a far smaller
number of individuals.
And since no additional evidence
has come to light,
I can see no reason
to reopen the inquiry.
Thank you. That's all for today.
REPORTER: Does that mean
The Guardian fabricated the story?
may have run into hundreds of people.
But our inquiry showed
that they only used the tactic
against a far smaller
number of individuals.
And since no additional evidence
has come to light,
I can see no reason
to reopen the inquiry.
FEMALE REPORTER: That was
Assistant Commissioner John Yates,
speaking in response to
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
NICK: What is it?
ALAN: The police haven't backed us,
and Keir Starmer's conducting a review.
He was Director of
Public Prosecutions then.
But he doesn't consider
there was anything inappropriate
in the prosecutions
undertaken in this case.
We are being squashed.
We need to speak to your Mr Apollo.
We need to get him on the record.
He
he can contact me, I can't contact him.
Nick,
our colleagues upstairs
are gravely concerned.
Is it possible you were set up?
No, this is right. I've
We've used no named sources,
no quotes from documents,
we should never have published.
And Murdoch has set his attack dogs
on us in the Commons,
they're briefing
that we can't back up our story.
And now the CMS Select Committee
want to see us urgently.
That doesn't sound great.
They want to barbecue you, Nick,
and John Yates has given them permission.
I'm sorry. I
I've read the runes wrong here.
The Guardian
are putting together a statement.
What kind of statement?
I'll know when I see it.
I feel like I'm having a heart attack.
Why is everybody doing this?
(SIGHS)
My mother was a strong character,
intelligent, forceful, imaginative,
trapped, as she believed,
in domestic drudgery. She had
She had a furious temper.
This wasn't the 1950s toxic ideal of
"Spare the rod and spoil the child."
This was mad beatings,
when she came after us
with a black-eyed fury
armed with whatever weapon
she had to hand,
a dog lead, a slipper, a riding crop,
a rope.
Are you ready to say you're sorry?
No.
(DOOR SLAMS)
I had been working as a journalist
for a couple of decades,
thinking I was interested in
criminal justice and social problems
when I saw that I was
being drawn to stories,
again and again with the same theme.
A deep-seated urge to hit back
(CHILDREN SHOUTING)
- at anybody at all
- MAN: Mr Davies.
- who takes power and abuses it.
- Stupid child!
- (SCREAMS)
- (SCHOOL BELL RINGS)
(PHONE VIBRATES)
(SIGHS)
Yeah, so I tried hitting him back.
Why?
Seething rage.
I thought he looked vulnerable.
Oh.
It didn't work.
No.
You look terrible.
Thank you.
What happened to you?
Are you asking me or him?
Okay, so I need to take you
to your mum's tonight.
Um She says she's cool with it
if you are.
Yeah, sure, I don't mind.
REPORTER: It's been a day of
statement and counter statement
in the phone hacking affair
with News International angrily refuting
all the allegations made by The Guardian.
With the editor and the reporter
due to appear
at the Media Select Committee,
certain publications
are claiming a leftist agenda
against the News of the World
by The Guardian.
And calling for legal action
to be taken against the organisation
if they can't back up
spurious claims
made against Murdoch's paper.
- Hi.
- SHERIDAN: Hello.
- See you, kids.
- SHERIDAN: Hi, kids.
- Oh, hang on.
- I'm fine, Mum. I'm fine.
It's my fault.
I'm sorry. Bad advice.
Coffee?
I'll Thanks for this.
I'll see you Monday.
- I'm sorry.
- Nick.
- Yeah?
- Have you eaten?
When?
In the last day.
I'm just a bit tired. I'm not
I'm not really at my best.
I need to think.
And the
the House of Commons Select Committee.
Want to see us tomorrow.
And The Guardian have got this message
that their PR have written,
that is that is just
All right. Okay.
You look worse than he does. Let's
(WHISPERS)
I didn't tell him to fight back.
I told him to pick his moment,
I didn't want him to hit someone.
Shit.
It's all right.
Come on.
Sit down. Sit down.
Soup okay?
(CLATTERING)
What do I do?
How do I make it better?
Well, we will talk to the school.
You think they'll do better?
It's a good school.
Things have changed.
You know, teachers, parents,
they're not allowed to do
There's systems, right?
I thought about her.
Earlier today, I was reading this
paper-mache over-apologetic PR nonsense,
and I thought about all the times
I'd gone to her and apologised.
And all the times I
and then my son gets a face like that.
Okay.
I'm gonna make the sofa up.
You're staying here tonight.
And I'll just put this soup on.
(PHONE VIBRATES)
(PHONE RINGING)
- ALAN: Hi.
- I can't read that statement.
A retraction at this time,
you're asking me to say I was wrong.
If we can't get Mr Apollo on the record,
then we need to make a retraction.
You know getting him on the record
is impossible.
Then I'm afraid you'll have
to make that statement
to the Select Committee tomorrow.
If you make me read it out, I won't come.
If you don't come, we're fucked.
Oh.
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES)
Carl Bernstein,
one of the great reporters
who exposed the Watergate scandal, said,
"I think all good reporting
is the same thing.
"The best attainable version
of the truth."
The best attainable version of the truth.
The best attainable
so no matter what you've got
you've got to
Good morning.
Hi. Does this printer-scanner
thing still work?
Yeah, that one does. Coffee?
And do you have some black paper
and some glue and some scissors?
Oh, you're making me a collage, Nick?
Might need the kids
to be slightly late for school.
Right. Why?
Okay, so these are e-mails
written to a journalist, that's Neville,
with transcriptions of
a man called Gordon Taylor's
voicemail messages.
What I need you to do
is to block out all the sections
which are clearly transcribed
from those voicemails.
Leave everything else visible.
You should be able to tell
which bits are which.
But any doubts, just ask.
Hmm. May I ask, why aren't you
doing this at The Guardian,
with some sort of vague professionalism?
Alan can't know.
Your editor can't know?
Because I can't have him
tell anyone else.
Oh yeah, that man is a gossip.
Fleet Street can't know about this.
As far as they know, I'm walking
naked into that committee room.
I was just trying to protect my editor.
- And my newspaper.
- And you?
What sort of danger
are you putting yourself in here?
(SIGHS)
Nick.
How are you, Alan?
I'm fine, a bit tired.
Something interrupted
my sleep last night.
I hate it when that happens.
I hate all of this.
I'm sorry if I've made
your life difficult.
My life?
This is bigger than me.
You could have brought down the whole
Guardian newspaper with this one.
But what a way to go.
I mean, consider the glory.
I, Nick Davies,
have destroyed, utterly destroyed
close to 200 years
of journalistic endeavour,
You're an absolute God.
God, I can't even think what you are.
You're awful.
You know what Peter Preston told me
when I took over the editor's desk?
Why in hell did they choose you?
Don't join the club.
He had to make adjustments to the paper
after the move from Manchester,
and he didn't
well, he wouldn't be part
of the media cabal.
He liked being on
the edge of Fleet Street.
He considered it part of our DNA.
Last night in bed, I realised something.
What you've done bringing us here,
is in the line of great Guardian coups.
But I do want to keep the newspaper
I've been entrusted with alive.
Are you reading the statement?
No.
But I do have things to say.
If you go too far,
I will squeeze your leg
and you will stop.
I have a paper to protect.
And you, be sure to protect yourself.
Tin hats on.
JOHN WHITTINGDALE:
Thank you for joining us, gentlemen.
Now we have a lot of questions,
so try to keep opening statements short.
I'd like to keep this whole
experience quite short, if I may.
But I do have
there is a lot for me to say.
I'd like to start by showing you,
first of all,
copies of an e-mail.
MAN: As a journalist, you are
consumed by two questions constantly:
how to tell a story,
but perhaps more crucially,
why to tell a story.
Imagine a country.
Nice weather. Let's give it nice weather.
Nice weather for England, anyway.
Imagine the people in this country
believe they are living in a democracy.
Believe in their own freedom.
But they are being abused
by a power so everyday
they don't know to look for it.
A treacherous combination of press,
the police, and politicians,
that hide in plain sight.
Imagine a country
where that concealment was
Imagine a country where
where the news organisations
- Shit!
- (CAR HORN HONKS)
Imagine it all deleted.
(SIGHS) Florid nonsense.
My name is Nick Davies.
I am a journalist,
and this is a story that ends
in seven major police investigations,
nearly 40 convictions,
and some of the most
powerful people in this country
being brought to their knees.
(GROANS) Too grand, too grand, too grand.
(CLEARS THROAT)
My name is Nick Davies.
I'm a journalist.
Good morning. I'll just check in.
This all started with Stuart Kuttner.
Hello.
(GROANS) No.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
This is the most troubling story
I've ever written.
A story about the abuse of power
and the concealment of truth.
Hi. Nick Davies for the Today programme.
I'm late.
British journalism is sloppy
and morally bankrupt.
That is the claim of the journalist
Nick Davies, who's written a book
that shows how often
newspapers use illegal methods
for getting their stories.
It's called Flat Earth News,
and Nick Davies joins us now.
- Good morning.
- Hi.
You say "sloppy"
because newspapers use press releases
rather than getting their own stories
and "morally bankrupt"
because of the illegality involved.
Really, the root that binds together
all the different themes
is that the logic of journalism
has been overwhelmed by
the logic of commercialism.
Journalists no longer have
the time or the resources
to do their jobs properly.
Instead, they're just passive processors
of unchecked, second-hand material.
Okay, but you You also You go
much further in suggesting that
- there has been criminality involved.
- Sure.
And that's generally accepted
within the press.
Okay. So, principally, that involves
hiring private investigators.
They hire private investigators
to get your bank statements,
your credit card statements,
your itemised phone bills,
your tax records,
even your health records
these creatures are getting.
All of that is illegal.
Okay. We're joined by John Mullin,
who is the editor
of The Independent on Sunday,
and Stuart Kuttner,
who's managing editor
of News of the World.
John Mullin, do you recognise this?
Well, I ploughed my way
through the first half of the book,
not the second half so far,
and no one can deny
that life in journalism
is much harder than maybe
it was 20, 30 years ago.
But to say that journalism as a whole
is a passive processor of news?
- I think that's erroneous.
- SARAH: Stuart Kuttner?
Yes, I'll tell you what I think.
I think, frankly,
listening to Nick Davies,
I thought he was speaking
from a newsroom on another planet.
- (CHUCKLES)
- It is totally unrecognisable to me.
Many years in newspapers in Fleet Street.
Now, of course, at the News of the World.
But what did he say that was so wrong?
Well, he talks about, if you like,
shortcuts, PR interests,
commercial interest.
I have to tell you, none of
my News of the World journalists
would recognise that at all.
But what about the way
these people get the stories
and access to personal information?
Well, if it happens,
it it shouldn't happen.
It happened once
at the News of the World.
The reporter was fired,
he went to prison, the editor resigned.
And while Nick is talking about all this,
I notice he doesn't mention
The Guardian's own act of criminality
when The Guardian forged
the signature of a cabinet minister
Okay, I-I-I don't want to
go into details of the story.
I think the charge that Nick Davies
KUTTNER: Sarah,
you may not want to go into detail,
but Nick makes a broad-brush,
sweeping attack on our profession,
which I happen to believe
is an honourable profession.
(VOICES MINGLE, ECHO)
- (PHONES RINGING)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
MAN: Hello, Mr
(PHONES CONTINUE RINGING)
You hear it?
I wish I hadn't.
(SIGHS)
You're too kind.
I did say, appearing on the Today
programme to attack journalism
wasn't exactly the most sensible idea.
Listen, before I go home, I wanted
to talk to you about something.
Good thing was, you weren't
representing The Guardian.
You were talking about your book.
My book.
Although, Kuttner did have a good go
at trying to besmirch us through you.
I want out.
(SIGHS) Do you know anything
about baking competitions?
No.
I want to know how many people
cheat at baking competitions.
A round number.
Sounds like exactly the sort of thing
the Guardian should be investigating.
I don't mean out altogether.
I'd like to go to Brussels,
investigate a whole new horizon,
something well paid.
- Naturally.
- That will allow me to commute.
The kids are old enough now
to be able to
I need you here.
- (PHONES RINGING)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
ALAN: Sadiq Khan. Bugged.
Forty-year convention breached.
And why? Keep the Americans happy.
Needs a good journalist.
Alan, I'm knackered.
Nobody likes me. I know.
Oh, come on.
I like you some of the time.
And I'm sure there are
a few others who-who also
Please.
Self-pity is not a redeeming quality.
We'll talk tomorrow.
I'm freelance precisely so that
I don't need to talk to you tomorrow.
You're freelance
with more or less a sole employer.
I say you should talk to me tomorrow.
Hmm?
We've all been roasted
by Stuart bloody Kuttner.
Bye.
Let me explain. Alan is, um
Well, we grew up together.
In journalism, that is.
- And he's always understood Sorry.
- (PHONE VIBRATING)
- Yep.
- MAN ON PHONE: Nick Davies?
Who's this?
My name is
- (BLEEP)
- Redacted, sorry.
We'll call him Mr Apollo, because
Um, well, actually, because he's
It-It doesn't matter.
How did you get this number?
Listen, Kuttner made a mistake.
Well, I made several.
Chief amongst them
appearing on the Today programme.
He said it happened once.
It happened once.
It happened once
at the News of the World.
The reporter was fired,
he went to prison, the editor resigned.
You're talking about phone hacking.
Nick, your book
only scratched the surface.
We have to meet face to face,
somewhere absolutely discreet.
I think you'll like what I have.
Where and when?
In the beginning, it was next to nothing.
Two men were arrested
for hacking phones in 2006:
a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire
And the royal editor of
the News of the World, Clive Goodman.
The sentences they received were short.
The attention they got, limited.
But the crime was unusual.
They had discovered they could access
other people's voicemail messages,
and they spent months eavesdropping
on three of Prince William's staff
at Clarence House.
How? They didn't say.
Why? For the discovery
of private information.
It was the start of the next
six years of my life.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
To be clear, I've never
told anyone who Mr Apollo is.
So some guesses have been made.
Bad guess.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
No.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
No. I'm sorry. It's not you.
- (KNOCKING ON DOOR)
- Okay. (CLEARS THROAT)
Oh, come on.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(SIGHS)
Hi.
- You coming in, or?
- Sure.
Wow, this is nice.
(CHURCH BELLS RINGING IN DISTANCE)
Nice choice of room.
Just to check. Is The Guardian paying?
Because if so, I'd implore you
to stay away from that mini bar.
Mulcaire, in the trial,
- he said he'd hacked other
- Five non-royals.
I remember. Yes. Um, Elle Macpherson,
Sky Andrew, Max Clifford
He's a liar.
Kuttner is a liar,
and one of the five is suing them.
Which one?
Well, that five is just
the tip of the iceberg.
Hacking phones at the
News of the World has been endemic.
Endemic?
Mm.
They pick up their leads
by intercepting voicemails,
and only then do they get
photographs and quotes
so as to lay a false trail.
To pretend they found the story
through legitimate means.
They've hacked thousands.
Here. Dial a number.
Someone who's likely to not answer.
(DIAL TONE)
ALAN: This is Alan Rusbridger.
Please leave
That's your phone-a-friend?
The editor of The Guardian?
- Press nine.
- (BEEPS)
AUTOMATED VOICE:
Please enter your 4-digit PIN.
Now enter one, two, three, four.
That's the factory setting.
(BEEPING)
AUTOMATED VOICE:
Welcome to your voicemail.
You have one new message.
WOMAN: Alan, it's Mummy.
I'm just calling about Jill Wyatt.
She won best sponge again,
and I'm sure she cheated
- (BEEPS)
- I don't wanna hear this.
- It's that easy?
- Mm.
It doesn't even need
a Glenn Mulcaire most of the time.
And you're saying this was widespread?
Glenn's main job was
that when it got tricky,
unlike with your Alan,
was to blag the mobile phone companies
into resetting the celebrities' PIN codes
to their original factory setting.
One, two, three, four.
- (PHONE VIBRATES)
- That's Alan.
- Please.
- ALAN: Who is this?
- Hi. Yeah, it's Nick.
- (ALAN GROANS)
Listen, change the voicemail
settings on your phone.
And how do I do that?
Ask a young person. I've got to go. Bye.
(BEEPS)
Who is suing?
(INHALES DEEPLY)
The person who is, is currently
trying to get Scotland Yard
to hand over evidence
they collected and did nothing with
when they arrested Mulcaire.
It's evidence that could (SIGHS)
burn, fuck and destroy everything.
Twice over.
You won't tell me which one
of the five it is, will you?
I will tell you
that you're missing two names.
Gordon Taylor and Simon Hughes.
Will you go on the record?
(SIGHS)
If you dig, it comes from you.
I-I can I can confirm things,
but (SIGHS)
It's just another story
of journos behaving badly.
You're not interested.
It's interesting, but
you should talk to someone else.
Do you realise I could lose my job
just by talking to you?
Don't worry.
This conversation never happened.
No, no, no. That's not my point, Nick.
You Think. Think who edited the paper.
Think about where he sits now.
You're talking about Andy Coulson.
Stop him.
Shit.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Mind the gap.
Stand clear of the doors, please.
Andy Coulson, a rapid ascent journalist.
From a local reporter
to Showbiz at The Sun,
he was made editor of
News of the World in 2003.
Even after he resigned in 2007
over the original phone hacking case,
it was seen as honourable,
him carrying the can
for the one rogue reporter.
Not me really, guv.
But if he was If he is
If this is endemic,
he's David Cameron's
communications director.
For him to be involved
in widespread criminality
No, no. Bad idea.
(DOORBELL RINGS)
I'm not late.
WOMAN: It would be fine
if you were to be a bit late.
You don't need to be so worried.
Are they ready?
- WOMAN: Are they ever ready?
- Kids?
WOMAN: You okay?
Kids?
- BOY: Yes, coming.
- Ooh, you're anxious to go, then.
Sorry. How are you, et cetera?
I'm fine, et cetera. Are you all right?
Never better.
Really?
I heard you on the radio.
- Hmm.
- That sort of performance help sales?
- Oh, I would doubt it.
- Mm.
- I'm, um I am worried about
- (BLEEP)
I'm not going to reveal my child's name.
Let's call him Beans.
He comes home, locks himself in his room.
- I have tried to talk to him, but
- He avoids all questions.
So, do we bring the school in?
Let's get the details,
make sure he wants the help.
Oh, you sound like a journalist.
Let me try.
Let me try.
Okay.
NICK: Got a new recipe.
- Okay, Dad.
- Stuffed tomato thing.
Yeah, nice. Sounds good.
I'll call you when it's ready.
It's Turkish.
- GIRL: Yep.
- NICK: So
I met someone today.
A source.
He was pissed off
with what Kuttner said on the radio.
Okay.
Hacking was "endemic", he said,
at News of the World.
And someone is now suing Scotland Yard
for information on what was hacked.
Now, I know I know it's one of
either Elle Macpherson, Simon Hughes,
Gordon Taylor, Sky Andrew,
or Max Clifford.
But I don't know which one.
What do you think?
Do I dig?
Try to find out who it is?
If I find them, it might
We might get some evidence
that proves foul play
was a bit more widespread.
Imagine what it does to Andy Coulson.
He's about to He could soon have
keys to 10 Downing Street.
Did Cameron even do
a fit-and-proper-person test on him?
Did he even look into Coulson's past?
It's a good angle, but another
"tabloids behaving badly" story?
I said the same thing.
And who wants to kick a bee's nest?
Murdoch, you know?
This source.
Has he got under your skin?
No. I just wanted to
talk it out with someone. You.
Ah. Always grateful
to be your sounding board.
Go home, Alan.
Who says I'm in the office?
NICK: We'll always have Brussels. Bye.
(FOOTBALL COMMENTARY)
It's creepy when you do that.
Stare at me like that.
How are you?
Why are you asking?
If there ever is anything
you need to discuss
Yes, Dad. I know.
(COMMENTARY CONTINUES)
I, um I never much liked school.
I'm not being bullied.
I always saw school as a necessity
Why does everyone always
think I'm being bullied?
not a virtue. There was a guy
who-who-who used to hit us.
Another kid?
Actually, a teacher.
He used to
God, he used to really scare me.
I-I never used to do well.
Um
Well, I never used to do well with fear,
but also the thing
I remember most clearly:
rage.
I heard you on the radio.
You listen to the Today programme?
Mum makes us listen to
or read everything you do.
"You've an impressive dad,"
and she says it like,
"He may be a total dick,
but he's impressive."
(SCOFFS) All right.
You know the story of the dung beetle?
God. Really, again?
- If you want to fly free
- First you have to eat a lot of shit.
Sometimes you have to ignore bullies.
- I'm not being bullied.
- Sometimes you have to puncture them.
- I'm not, Dad,
- There's always a way to
There's always a chance
When the wankers
when they suddenly seem vulnerable.
When they are,
you have to clamp your pincers
onto them as hard as possible.
Do not let go.
(COMMENTARY CONTINUES)
Tomatoes in the oven.
Ready in ten. They're Turkish.
I love you very much.
(WOMAN'S DISTORTED VOICE)
You stupid child.
You are such a disappointment.
It won't surprise you to know
we didn't get the rights
to use their masthead.
Or this one.
(PHONE DIALLING)
- (PHONE RINGS)
- Hi, it's Nick Davies.
You still have that contact
at Scotland Yard?
MAN 1: No, sorry, mate.
I really cannot be
getting involved with that one.
You know how it is.
NICK: But Andy Coulson will soon
be sitting in Downing Street.
MAN 1: Yeah, and Murdoch's already
sitting on Downing Street.
Yeah.
Yes, I appreciate that.
I understand.
If I could get some evidence of this.
- MAN 1: No.
- MAN 2: No.
- MAN 3: No.
- All right. Thanks. Bye.
(PHONE RINGS)
NICK: Oh, hi. Thanks for calling back.
Do you have the number for
Name redacted.
- See you later.
- Yeah.
Okay, great. Zero
seven, seven, zero, zero,
nine, zero, zero, nine,
five, four. Got that.
Thank you.
Hi. I'm wondering whether
I could speak to
whoever represents Elle Macpherson.
No, no, I'm not a fan.
No, I'm wondering whether
she's currently suing
the News of the World.
Is that Max?
Hi, it's Nick Davies.
We met at The Orwell Prize.
I'm actually after a bit of insight.
Well, no. Just give me a chance.
(SIGHS)
Detective Buzz Aldrin?
It's not his real name.
My name is Nick Davies.
I'm a Guardian journalist.
I believe you were looking
into the Clive Goodman case?
I'm very busy, Mr Davies.
I've followed your work, Buzz.
I know how principled you are.
I think you know that this
that what is happening here
is acutely in the public interest,
and if it's all dealt with
in behind-stairs deals,
it'll help no one.
I can't talk to journalists.
You don't have to talk.
All I need to know is which
of the five non-royal names
in the Clive Goodman case
is now suing the paper.
Cough.
That's all I ask.
Cough when I hit the right name.
You are very, very persistent.
Because what I understand is that
those five names represent thousands,
thousands of people who've had
their privacy stolen by this newspaper.
Please.
Elle Macpherson, Simon Hughes,
Gordon Taylor
- (BUZZ COUGHS)
- Thank you.
You did the right thing.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Sorry, excuse me. Charlotte Harris!
Nick Davies at The Guardian.
I believe you represent Gordon Taylor.
I'm due in court.
I understand that he's suing News
of the World for breach of privacy.
Mr Davies, whether or not
Mr Taylor is my client,
I have no interest
in talking to any press. Sorry.
These so-called journalists bring
our whole industry into disrepute.
You're very persistent.
Well, can you can you tell me then
about John Hewison?
He's also a claimant, is he not?
And the interesting thing is,
if you ask the public
who those two are,
they might know Taylor.
They wouldn't know Hewison
because he's a lawyer.
Like you.
He's entrusted with
the secrets of others,
in the secrets of sports stars
in his case
which makes him interesting
to the News of the World.
This is a news operation,
which is trying to undermine
the confidentiality
that crucially underlies your profession.
If you want to fight it,
well, you're a tiger, but they're lions.
The Guardian's a lion, too.
Well, what if I'm neither
a lion nor a tiger?
What if I am a walrus?
Walruses can be fierce.
And what if you're a
See, I'm trying to think
of an annoying animal.
- Has Mr Taylor settled?
- (LAUGHS)
What evidence do you have?
Are there other claimants?
I'm sure you must you must be
looking to engage more clients.
Privacy cases like this
can sometimes (STUTTERS)
What did Max Mosley get?
Sixty thousand pounds, and costs.
Line enough up,
you could have a class-action suit
worth a lot of money.
You were doing well, reasonably well,
until you brought money into it.
I can't talk to you about specific cases,
but I can tell you
I can tell you that there is
so much more to come.
(PHONE BEEPS)
(PHONE VIBRATING)
- Yep.
- MR APOLLO: You've got the name.
Mr Apollo, you're back.
Are you watching me?
MR APOLLO: I take it you're
still interested in this case, then?
NICK: The deer is in the fireplace.
The lion is alight.
MR APOLLO: What the fuck are you doing?
NICK: Sorry, I make
I have a tendency to make jokes.
I was trying to trying
to be a Russian spy.
MR APOLLO: We could be spotted
at any moment.
- Do you know the risks?
- NICK: I do. Sorry.
MR APOLLO: So you found the lawyer.
Is this some kind of a test?
Do I get a prize at the end of it?
Do you know how much
they're settling for?
No.
£400,000 in damages,
another £300,000 in legal expenses,
and their associates
are getting £140,000 in damages,
plus their legal.
The whole package comes in
at just over a million pounds.
Now that's a lot,
even for News International to stomach.
But,
Max Mosley was They accused him
of being a Nazi at an orgy.
- All he got was
- £60,000, yes.
Now you're getting it.
NICK: Look, I need you.
I need paperwork or-or audio recording,
some sort of hard evidence,
I don't even have to publish it.
I just need to be able
to show The Guardian.
The preliminary hearings, in 2007,
they're public record.
That's not enough.
MR APOLLO: All right.
NICK: What is it?
MR APOLLO: You'll work it out.
- Can I use it?
- Nope.
I need to be able to use it.
Summarise it, yes.
Show it to your editor, yes.
Quote from it, no.
Can I have your number?
Be careful, Nick.
This could get nasty.
(PHONE RINGING)
ALAN: I have a piece on MPs expenses
I want you to have a look at.
NICK: Okay.
ALAN: Do you want some gingerbread?
My mother made it. It's not very good.
NICK: I have evidence.
ALAN: How long did that take you to get?
NICK: Maybe two months,
ALAN: And you've never mentioned it?
They're paying out millions
to cover this up.
This is a story.
Nick, newspapers
reporting on newspapers
But the editor of that newspaper
is about to enter government.
If Andy Coulson was complicit
in hacking phones as an editor,
imagine what he might do
to enemies of the government.
ALAN: Show me what you have.
NICK: Okay, so,
printout of an e-mail.
ross.hindley@news-of-the-world
to shadownmen@yahoo.co.uk
It's Glenn Mulcaire's e-mail.
His e-mail was shadowmen?
Hmm, it says, "transcript for Neville."
"Wednesday, 29th of June, 2005."
I can read.
And Neville is
Neville Thurlbeck,
Chief reporter at News of the World.
There are transcripts
of 35 voicemail messages,
which had been left on the phones
of Gordon Taylor and a colleague.
- It wasn't just Clive Goodman.
- (RUSTLING)
And then, there's this.
Greg Miskiw, assistant editor
approving a payment of £7000,
to Mulcaire for a story on Gordon Taylor.
And the police have access
to all of this and more.
Can we use these?
No.
Can we get your Mr Apollo
to speak on the record?
How long have we known each other?
I have no idea.
I had no interest
in trying to work that out.
It'll make me feel old.
Nearly thirty years. This is it, Alan.
There is an industry making huge profit
from invading people's private lives,
and Rupert Murdoch's bullying tabloids
have explicitly encouraged it
and are buying it.
This matters.
Tin hats on.
Good. Okay.
I'll-I'll let you know
when I've got something.
Thanks, Alan.
You may think you lead a private life,
but The Guardian has uncovered evidence
to suggest otherwise.
This strange story began in 2006
with the arrest of two men,
The News of the World,
Royal Editor, Clive Goodman,
and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire.
The men pled guilty
to phone hacking charges,
and served prison sentences.
Following an investigation,
the paper told the world that hacking
was the work of one rogue reporter.
The story should have ended there.
But it didn't.
(SIGHS)
RUPERT MURDOCH: From the beginning on,
newspapers have prospered for one reason,
giving readers the news they want.
Shit.
Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
(CLEARS THROAT)
Keep it simple.
Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers
had paid out more than £1,000,000
to settle legal cases
that threatened to reveal evidence
of his journalists' repeated involvement
in the use of criminal methods
to get stories.
ALAN: Payments secured secrecy
over out-of-court settlements
in three cases that threatened
to expose evidence
of Murdoch journalists
using private investigators
to illegally hack into
the mobile phone messages
of numerous public figures.
Cabinet ministers.
MPs, actors, and sports stars
were all targets
of private investigators.
Are you sure we can safely
list all those groups?
We already have evidence of actors,
Elle Macpherson,
- sport stars, Sky Andrew
- MPs then?
I have an invoice
recording a payment
to a private investigator
showing John Prescott had been targeted,
it's likely hacking.
This article has no named sources.
There's no evidence on the record.
Alan thinks we have enough, I do, too.
And we haven't got right of reply.
It's a declaration of bloody war.
Murdoch and Brooks,
they have nuclear weapons.
Right now they do.
But we can neuter
their nuclear weapons with this.
If we do, Fleet Street
will fall in behind us,
the police soon after.
And they have when they
find the information
- they already have.
- Information they've lost?
Information they don't know they have.
This is The Met we're talking about.
Look, once we publish,
they'll be forced to act.
Can we name Coulson?
Now you're worried
I haven't gone far enough.
No, it makes it more
in the public interest
if we can name him.
I did ring conservative HQ
right to reply, Gill.
I asked about
the Gordon Taylor settlement.
His office replied,
it didn't ring any bells.
We've nothing that directly links him.
I agree.
But we can say,
that he was the editor in place
when journalists
for whom he was responsible,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
That's good.
That's good.
Yes?
I'm uneasy, but if you're sure
I am.
RUFUS: It reads well.
Okay.
At half past five in the afternoon
on Wednesday, 8th of July, 2009,
we posted my news story
on The Guardian website.
As it ran, The Guardian news desk
asked a reporter, Caroline Davies,
to call John Prescott,
ex-Deputy Prime Minister,
to get a quote.
I told him the gist of the story,
and he said, "Fookin' 'ell!"
You'd have thought the police
in the committing of a criminal offence,
and clearly it is, against anyone,
and particularly you'd have thought,
a cabinet member,
they would have come
and told me about it.
I would have asked them,
"What are you going to do about it?"
Prescott roared.
But the house fell silent.
Anyone?
Anyone?
And Fleet Street,
well
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Fleet Street essentially
did their best to ignore the story.
Ask any journalist
what a great story depends on.
They'll say the same thing.
A new angle,
one at least journalists can get behind.
We are reliant on our own profession
to follow up on stories
so they have impact.
To make a story newsworthy
requires multiple news outlets.
But on this one,
crickets.
My company couldn't have settled
the legal action
like The Guardian claims.
If they had done,
I'd have known about it.
I tried to get this out
as wide as possible.
I talked on radio stations, TV shows.
I took constant calls from agents of
public figures asking,
"Am I on that list?"
I slept about four hours.
And then at five in the afternoon,
I was surprised to hear that
John Yates, Assistant Commissioner
of Scotland Yard,
was preparing to make a statement.
Good afternoon.
I was not involved in the original case
and clearly come at this
with an independent mind.
In my opinion, what I've seen
is a most careful investigation
by very experienced detectives.
He proceeded to gently demolish our work.
We'd suggested there were
thousands of victims.
The potential targets
may have run into hundreds of people.
But our inquiry showed
that they only used the tactic
against a far smaller
number of individuals.
And since no additional evidence
has come to light,
I can see no reason
to reopen the inquiry.
Thank you. That's all for today.
REPORTER: Does that mean
The Guardian fabricated the story?
may have run into hundreds of people.
But our inquiry showed
that they only used the tactic
against a far smaller
number of individuals.
And since no additional evidence
has come to light,
I can see no reason
to reopen the inquiry.
FEMALE REPORTER: That was
Assistant Commissioner John Yates,
speaking in response to
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
NICK: What is it?
ALAN: The police haven't backed us,
and Keir Starmer's conducting a review.
He was Director of
Public Prosecutions then.
But he doesn't consider
there was anything inappropriate
in the prosecutions
undertaken in this case.
We are being squashed.
We need to speak to your Mr Apollo.
We need to get him on the record.
He
he can contact me, I can't contact him.
Nick,
our colleagues upstairs
are gravely concerned.
Is it possible you were set up?
No, this is right. I've
We've used no named sources,
no quotes from documents,
we should never have published.
And Murdoch has set his attack dogs
on us in the Commons,
they're briefing
that we can't back up our story.
And now the CMS Select Committee
want to see us urgently.
That doesn't sound great.
They want to barbecue you, Nick,
and John Yates has given them permission.
I'm sorry. I
I've read the runes wrong here.
The Guardian
are putting together a statement.
What kind of statement?
I'll know when I see it.
I feel like I'm having a heart attack.
Why is everybody doing this?
(SIGHS)
My mother was a strong character,
intelligent, forceful, imaginative,
trapped, as she believed,
in domestic drudgery. She had
She had a furious temper.
This wasn't the 1950s toxic ideal of
"Spare the rod and spoil the child."
This was mad beatings,
when she came after us
with a black-eyed fury
armed with whatever weapon
she had to hand,
a dog lead, a slipper, a riding crop,
a rope.
Are you ready to say you're sorry?
No.
(DOOR SLAMS)
I had been working as a journalist
for a couple of decades,
thinking I was interested in
criminal justice and social problems
when I saw that I was
being drawn to stories,
again and again with the same theme.
A deep-seated urge to hit back
(CHILDREN SHOUTING)
- at anybody at all
- MAN: Mr Davies.
- who takes power and abuses it.
- Stupid child!
- (SCREAMS)
- (SCHOOL BELL RINGS)
(PHONE VIBRATES)
(SIGHS)
Yeah, so I tried hitting him back.
Why?
Seething rage.
I thought he looked vulnerable.
Oh.
It didn't work.
No.
You look terrible.
Thank you.
What happened to you?
Are you asking me or him?
Okay, so I need to take you
to your mum's tonight.
Um She says she's cool with it
if you are.
Yeah, sure, I don't mind.
REPORTER: It's been a day of
statement and counter statement
in the phone hacking affair
with News International angrily refuting
all the allegations made by The Guardian.
With the editor and the reporter
due to appear
at the Media Select Committee,
certain publications
are claiming a leftist agenda
against the News of the World
by The Guardian.
And calling for legal action
to be taken against the organisation
if they can't back up
spurious claims
made against Murdoch's paper.
- Hi.
- SHERIDAN: Hello.
- See you, kids.
- SHERIDAN: Hi, kids.
- Oh, hang on.
- I'm fine, Mum. I'm fine.
It's my fault.
I'm sorry. Bad advice.
Coffee?
I'll Thanks for this.
I'll see you Monday.
- I'm sorry.
- Nick.
- Yeah?
- Have you eaten?
When?
In the last day.
I'm just a bit tired. I'm not
I'm not really at my best.
I need to think.
And the
the House of Commons Select Committee.
Want to see us tomorrow.
And The Guardian have got this message
that their PR have written,
that is that is just
All right. Okay.
You look worse than he does. Let's
(WHISPERS)
I didn't tell him to fight back.
I told him to pick his moment,
I didn't want him to hit someone.
Shit.
It's all right.
Come on.
Sit down. Sit down.
Soup okay?
(CLATTERING)
What do I do?
How do I make it better?
Well, we will talk to the school.
You think they'll do better?
It's a good school.
Things have changed.
You know, teachers, parents,
they're not allowed to do
There's systems, right?
I thought about her.
Earlier today, I was reading this
paper-mache over-apologetic PR nonsense,
and I thought about all the times
I'd gone to her and apologised.
And all the times I
and then my son gets a face like that.
Okay.
I'm gonna make the sofa up.
You're staying here tonight.
And I'll just put this soup on.
(PHONE VIBRATES)
(PHONE RINGING)
- ALAN: Hi.
- I can't read that statement.
A retraction at this time,
you're asking me to say I was wrong.
If we can't get Mr Apollo on the record,
then we need to make a retraction.
You know getting him on the record
is impossible.
Then I'm afraid you'll have
to make that statement
to the Select Committee tomorrow.
If you make me read it out, I won't come.
If you don't come, we're fucked.
Oh.
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES)
Carl Bernstein,
one of the great reporters
who exposed the Watergate scandal, said,
"I think all good reporting
is the same thing.
"The best attainable version
of the truth."
The best attainable version of the truth.
The best attainable
so no matter what you've got
you've got to
Good morning.
Hi. Does this printer-scanner
thing still work?
Yeah, that one does. Coffee?
And do you have some black paper
and some glue and some scissors?
Oh, you're making me a collage, Nick?
Might need the kids
to be slightly late for school.
Right. Why?
Okay, so these are e-mails
written to a journalist, that's Neville,
with transcriptions of
a man called Gordon Taylor's
voicemail messages.
What I need you to do
is to block out all the sections
which are clearly transcribed
from those voicemails.
Leave everything else visible.
You should be able to tell
which bits are which.
But any doubts, just ask.
Hmm. May I ask, why aren't you
doing this at The Guardian,
with some sort of vague professionalism?
Alan can't know.
Your editor can't know?
Because I can't have him
tell anyone else.
Oh yeah, that man is a gossip.
Fleet Street can't know about this.
As far as they know, I'm walking
naked into that committee room.
I was just trying to protect my editor.
- And my newspaper.
- And you?
What sort of danger
are you putting yourself in here?
(SIGHS)
Nick.
How are you, Alan?
I'm fine, a bit tired.
Something interrupted
my sleep last night.
I hate it when that happens.
I hate all of this.
I'm sorry if I've made
your life difficult.
My life?
This is bigger than me.
You could have brought down the whole
Guardian newspaper with this one.
But what a way to go.
I mean, consider the glory.
I, Nick Davies,
have destroyed, utterly destroyed
close to 200 years
of journalistic endeavour,
You're an absolute God.
God, I can't even think what you are.
You're awful.
You know what Peter Preston told me
when I took over the editor's desk?
Why in hell did they choose you?
Don't join the club.
He had to make adjustments to the paper
after the move from Manchester,
and he didn't
well, he wouldn't be part
of the media cabal.
He liked being on
the edge of Fleet Street.
He considered it part of our DNA.
Last night in bed, I realised something.
What you've done bringing us here,
is in the line of great Guardian coups.
But I do want to keep the newspaper
I've been entrusted with alive.
Are you reading the statement?
No.
But I do have things to say.
If you go too far,
I will squeeze your leg
and you will stop.
I have a paper to protect.
And you, be sure to protect yourself.
Tin hats on.
JOHN WHITTINGDALE:
Thank you for joining us, gentlemen.
Now we have a lot of questions,
so try to keep opening statements short.
I'd like to keep this whole
experience quite short, if I may.
But I do have
there is a lot for me to say.
I'd like to start by showing you,
first of all,
copies of an e-mail.