The real events behind The Hack: a timeline of scandal, cover-ups and collapse | Stan: The Hack | #hacker

When journalist Nick Davies began investigating phone hacking at the UK tabloid the News of the World, he couldn’t have known what the fallout would be.

Revelations that journalists had intercepted the voicemails of celebrities, politicians, and even victims of crime, exposed a tangled web of illegality, unethical practices, collusion and corruption. Decades on, the Stan original series, The Hack, sheds new light on the scandal.

Over seven episodes, the series follows two real-life characters: Davies (David Tennant) as he uncovers illegal practices at the News of the World, and Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook (Robert Carlyle) as he pursues the murder of the private investigator Daniel Morgan, exposing entrenched police corruption. “It’s about great journalism and remarkable people,” says Jack Thorne, an executive producer and co-writer on The Hack.

The Hack looks at power and corruption at the highest levels. With the series launching on Stan, we look back at the key moments that unravelled the web of corruption.

March 1987: a gruesome murder at the Golden Lion

Following a meeting with his business partner, Jonathan Rees, Morgan is found dead in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in south-east London. His family claims Morgan was silenced before he could expose the involvement of corrupt police officers in a south London drugs network.

September 1999: Operation Nigeria and the ‘empire of tabloid corruption’

Rees is a suspect in Morgan’s murder, and police bug his office as part of Operation Nigeria. They uncover extensive criminal activity: links to corrupt officers and officials, and the sale of illicit information to newspapers, including the News of the World. The bugs reveal a plot by Rees to plant drugs on a woman to help her husband win a custody battle, and in 2000 he is jailed for six years (increased to seven on appeal) for perverting the course of justice.

A flip card that says “How tabloids gained secret access” on the front, and on the back: “British tabloids used various methods to illegally obtain private information. Tactics included phone hacking (gaining access to voicemails) and blagging (impersonating or deceiving to obtain information). The actress Sienna Miller, whose story features in The Hack, says her life was nearly ruined when details of her pregnancy were published in 2005.”

August 2006: the Royal phone hacking scandal

The News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire are arrested and charged with hacking voicemails that revealed personal details about members of the British Royal family. The News of the World claims Goodman was a “rogue” reporter, and denies widespread hacking. Goodman and Mulcaire both plead guilty and are sentenced to jail. The editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, resigns, but claims he has no knowledge of phone hacking.

A flip card that says “Prince William’s niggly knee” on the front and on the back: “In 2005, Goodman penned an article claiming Prince William had strained his knee. A second article revealed that William had borrowed broadcasting equipment from a friend. These seemingly innocuous details led to a police enquiry after William grew suspicious of how they could have been obtained.”

July 2009: Nick Davies blows open the case

With Goodman and Mulcaire jailed, and police and regulators insisting that no one else was involved, it seems the case is closed. But Davies keeps digging. The Guardian publishes explosive reports of secret payouts and the widespread hacking of celebrities and politicians under the editorship of Coulson, who is now the director of communication for the prime minister, David Cameron. Davies also reveals police inaction, despite evidence of thousands of hacked phones. Still, police refuse to reopen the case.

December 2010: more allegations

Davies reports on new court documents that suggest the News of the World editor Ian Edmondson had directed phone hacking. Within weeks, Edmondson is suspended, Coulson resigns, and the Crown Prosecution Service begins a review of existing evidence. Police launch a new investigation, Operation Weeting.

March 2011: Rees is acquitted

Rees is acquitted of Morgan’s murder. After decades of inaction, Rees, and three other men, had been charged with Morgan’s murder in 2008. But the case falls apart and they are declared not guilty in 2011 when informants’ testimony is ruled inadmissible. In 2019 Rees and two other accused men, Glenn and Garry Vian, win damages for malicious prosecution.

April 2011: a (partial) admission of guilt, and more questions raised

Operation Weeting leads to the arrest of Edmondson and senior reporters Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup. The News of the World apologises and accepts some liability, while continuing to fight other cases. The Guardian calls for a public inquiry, questioning why Rees, long linked to the paper, was excluded from Operation Weeting despite evidence of his criminality.

4 July 2011: the Milly Dowler voicemail hack shocks the UK

Davies and his Guardian colleague Amelia Hill reveal the News of the World had hacked the voicemail of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, along with the phones of other crime victims’ families. The public outcry leads Cameron to launch a new inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics. Days later, Coulson is arrested.

A flip card that says “The Milly Dowler story” on the front, and on the back says “In April 2002, the News of the World published an article revealing a hoax caller had applied for a job with a recruitment agency using 13-year-old Dowler’s name and phone number, six days after she went missing. As the Guardian later revealed, this information had been obtained by hacking Dowler’s voicemail.”

7 July 2011: the News of the World to be shut down

With advertisers withdrawing, and the political fallout of the scandal affecting News Corporation’s other commercial operations, the company’s chairman, James Murdoch, announces the News of the World will be shut down, with its final edition appearing on 10 July.

A flip card that says “Thank you & goodbye” on the front, and on the back says “These were the words printed on the final cover of the News of the World on 10 July 2011. The paper had been published for 168 years and was the UK’s biggest-selling Sunday paper. More than 200 journalists lost their jobs. “

July 2011 onwards: the fallout continues, but questions remain

The ramifications of the phone hacking scandal continue to unravel. In July 2011, News International’s CEO, Rebekah Brooks, resigns, alongside other top executives. Brooks is arrested, but in 2014 is found not guilty, while Coulson and Edmondson are jailed. Rupert Murdoch calls his 2011 parliamentary inquiry appearance “the most humble day of my life.” In 2021, an inquiry finds the Metropolitan Police were “institutionally corrupt” in handling Morgan’s case. His murder remains unsolved.

Watch The Hack exclusively on Stan now.