All language subtitles for The Hack 2025 S01E03 720p WEB-DL HEVC x265 BONE_Track3

CLICK, WHIRRING

Previously on The Hack...

Hacking phones at the
News Of The World has been endemic.

Endemic?

They've hacked thousands.

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.

Charlotte Harris?
Nick Davies of The Guardian.

I can't talk to you
about specific cases,

but I can tell you
there is so much more to come.

ALAN: Show me what you have.

A printout of an email
proving a payment of £7,000

to Mulcaire
for a story on Gordon Taylor.

And the police have access
to all of this and more.

In my opinion, what I have seen

is a most careful investigation
by very experienced detectives.

'And since no additional evidence
has come to light,

'I can see no reason
to reopen the inquiry.'

Keir Starmer's conducting a review.

And now the CMS Select Committee
want to see us urgently.

Are you reading the statement?
No.

But I do have things to say.

DIALLING,
THUNDER RUMBLING

AUTOMATED VOICE:
'Welcome to your voicemail.

'You have three new messages.

'To listen to your messages,
press one.'

BEEP

'Papa here.
Just wondering when you're over.

'Oh, er, the kitchen tap
seems to be fixed now,

'which is good. So, er...'
BEEP

AUTOMATED VOICE:
'Message deleted. Next message.'

'Nick, it's Sheridan.

'Erm, just to say I got a call
from the bank today.

'They said it's in relation
to the remortgage, but...'

SHE SIGHS
'..I felt like someone was fishing.'

BEEP
'Message deleted.

'Next message.'

'Nick, we're putting together
a legal response for Alan.

'But we need to speak to you
about the Select Committee....'

VOICE FADES
INTO FEEDBACK

THUNDER RUMBLING

Oh, God.

Don't you dare.

Has Alan rung again?
Possibly.

Possibly?

Could be the school telling me
my son's broken his leg.

Or Rebekah Brooks
declaring surrender.

Or it could be Alan
asking where I am

and whether David Leigh
is with me.

I didn't answer.
I didn't want to lie to him.

Perhaps he'll leave a voicemail.

Why are we here? Good question.

Thank you for joining us, gentlemen.

Now, we have a lot of questions,

so try and keep
opening statements short.

I'd like to keep this whole
experience quite short, if I may.

ATTENDEES CHUCKLING
Erm, but I do have...

There is quite a lot for me to say.

I'd like to start by showing you,
first of all, copies of an email.

With respect, Mr Davies,

er, we have quite a few questions
for you. I understand.

But I think your questions
will be given context...

Let's open with a question from...
Mr Whittingdale.

Do you want the evidence or not?

I would like to read it.

Yup?
OK.

There you go.
OK.

This is an email
sent for Neville Thurlbeck,

Chief Reporter
for News Of The World.

A document the police have had
for some time.

A document that contains
transcripts of hacked voicemails.

I hope you'll agree
this backs up our claims.

But what's more unsettling
is that Scotland Yard

have never arrested
or interviewed Neville Thurlbeck.

My chief concern is...

Mr Davies,
this is all very dramatic,

but if we can get back
to the matter in hand.

Mr Whittingdale, I'm very worried

that News International journalists
have been breaking the law.

And equally worried
that Scotland Yard

do not appear
to have investigated them.

ATTENDEES MURMURING

Mr Davies,
this is all very dramatic.

It's amazing what you can do with
kids' glue and some black paper.

You... You got your kids
to redact a...

They enjoyed it. They like craft.

Good revolutionaries.

BOTH CHUCKLE
Yeah.

What was that letter
Che Guevara wrote to his kids?

PHONE BUZZES

Alan.

Hi.

No, it was fine.

I think we got away with it.

What are they saying?

Yes.

HE INHALES SHARPLY

Can you just... Yes.

Right. Thanks for letting me know.

David Leppard, The Sunday Times.

Why is Leppard phoning you?

Er, it wasn't him.

Leppard's spreading a story

that I hired John Ford
to hack voicemail.

It's apparently all over Parliament.

John Ford, the blagger?
You wouldn't use John Ford.

They're saying it's in relation
to our investigation of Monsanto.

I did use an intelligence firm.

Limosis.

It's possible they...
subcontracted to John Ford.

Well, The Guardian
isn't in trouble any more.

I am.

DOG BARKING

John Ford.

John Ford had had his hand

in and out of Alastair Campbell's
trash for years.

But his real talent
was for blagging.

An ex-actor with style.
He did all sorts to get all sorts.

Gordon Brown's bank records,
for one.

And Alan may have hired him,
which...

Well...
DAVID SNORING

..the newspaper industry
loves a bit of hypocrisy to expose.

BIRDSONG

Morning.

Not the face you were
hoping to wake up to?

HE GRUNTS

You know, I think the time has come
to admit

that John Ford isn't home.

David Leigh, investigations editor
at The Guardian.

Also, Alan's brother-in-law.

The Sunday Times
have got him well hid.

NICK GROANS, SNIFFS

I think we can give him another day.

Perhaps we can get hold of
Alan's paper trail?

Get inside the intelligence firm.

Start again.

It'll take too long,
they'll publish before...

Then Alan will take a hit,
and we hope he survives it.

But sitting here, Nick...

..it's getting us nowhere.

This is not all my fault.

Murdoch's an eel.

He's entirely relentless.

I'm not picking a fight
with Murdoch.

No.

You're picking a fight
with our entire industry.

PHONE BUZZES
Don't answer it.

No, do. Do.
Don't let them leave a voicemail.

NOTIFICATION CHIMES
It's an email. Oh.

A statement from
the Crown Prosecution Service.

The CPS says,

"It's not appropriate to reopen
the case or revisit the decision."

HE GROANS

They're not backing us.

What was it that John Yates
said about the case?

Something about
a small number of, er...

Of hacks, yeah.

Our inquiries showed
that they only used the tactic

against a far smaller number
of individuals.

Page two.

"Searched Mulcaire's office,
seized material which indicated

"some non-royal cases
had been hacked." Yup.

"The DPP states...

"only a select sample of these
could be taken to court

"because any other approach might
have made the case unmanageable."

Unmanageable?
That suggests a lot of hacking.

By more than one reporter.
Yeah.

Almost an admission of such.

I'll write, you call.

Got it.
PHONE BEEPING

That means
you need to leave the car.

Got it. Yeah.

Hi, this is Nick Davies
of The Guardian.

MAN: 'Hi there.'

I need to speak to somebody
at the CPS

about the Glenn Mulcaire
prosecution.

'Er, yes, yes.
But specifically, how can I help?'

Specifically?

I want to know
what the police passed up

and you declined to prosecute
because any other approach

would have been, quote,
"unmanageable".

'OK...'
I have information,

particularly an email
that I want to discuss.

'Er, yes, sir.
Erm, can I put you on hold?'

Yes, I will hold.

HOLD MUSIC:
# Never gonna give you up

# Never gonna let you down... #
Really?

The plot thickens.

The Neville email was never flagged.

The Met never flagged it to the CPS.

Why not?

I can't give this up.
It's too important.

No, I know.

But I won't let it hurt Alan.

I'm not entirely sure
you can make that promise.

BELL TOLLING

Hi.
Hi.

Made you a sandwich.
Oh, cheers.

You look rough.

Yeah, and you look beautiful (!)

I'm not sleeping.

No, neither am I.

Daniel Morgan.

Anything I can...

I can't tell you anything.
You know that.

Is there something to tell...
No.

Christ. Salmon and cream cheese, eh?

Scottish salmon.
DAVE CHUCKLES

And I need some
non-Daniel Morgan advice.

You're saying poncy sandwiches
don't come free?

Why would the Met not flag evidence
to the Crown Prosecution Service?

CPS don't get everything.

And everything it does get has to
pass the relevance test, right?

Correct.
OK.

So, is this relevant?

They're transcripts
for Neville Thurlbeck,

Chief Reporter
at the News of the Word.

And they didn't get shown this?

They put it through
as "unused material".

Shit.

Tell me.
What is happening in the Met?

Well, there's obviously
a lot I can't tell you.

But what I can say...

is that ever since Stephen Lawrence,

the Met have made it their job to...

Well, Dick Fedorcio,
director of communications.

Yeah, I've met him.

He currently sits
on the Met's senior management team.

Our comms chief,
not a police officer.

And he has direct impact
on operational decisions.

Good press matters that much?

These meetings are dominated

by how to get the cases
that are going well

on the front of the tabloids

and the cases that are
not going so well off them.

By order of the Commissioner,

Dick will wine and dine
the crime journalists.

And guess who he meets the most?

News Of The World and The Sun.

But not flagging this to the CPS?

It's bad. Very bad.
Look, will you stop doing that?

You're making me jumpy.
I think I'm being watched.

What, you got anything to hide?
You, for one thing.

Hey, I'm just meeting a pal
for a poncy sandwich.

Glenn Mulcaire
did a minimum 20,000 hours' work

for the News Of The World.

That's on record.
It's an industrial level of work.

Which means he worked for far more
journalists than Clive Goodman.

So, Neville Thurlbeck
appears to be one other, but...

was he feeding all of them?

Nick, just be careful, OK?

See, these people...

are not to be fucked with.

PHONE RINGING

FRIDGE DOOR OPENS,
CLOSES

There you go, boys.

Charlotte Harris.

'Nick Davies.'

Right.

You sound delighted to hear from me.

'Delighted and not surprised.

'How'd you get this number?
Did you blag it?'

Your office gave it to me.

I can be very polite
and surprisingly charming.

If you're calling about
the CPS enhancement,

I'm as pissed off as you are,
but there's nothing I can do.

Look, the CPS have a file
on Glenn Mulcaire.

'You must know someone...'

Nick, I don't work for you,
and I've got to go.

Good luck, and goodbye.

Er, right. OK.

Glenn Mulcaire.

Chief phone hacker
for the News Of The World.

Given six months' jail time
for the Clive Goodman case,

but now he's out and about.

And sniffing about.

DOOR OPENS

Mr Mulcaire? Nick Davies.

I saw you.

Maroon Saab by the park.

Think I'd do what I do
without being good at it?

I don't know if you've been reading
my pieces in The Guardian?

You taping this?

No. No, I wouldn't do that
without your consent, Mr Mulcaire.

It's Glenn.

So, who else
are you talking to, Nick?

Got anyone good in the police?

Who's your snout at the screws?

Who are YOU still talking to
at that paper?

CHUCKLES SOFTLY
You're funny.

Why are you here?

Did you ever work for
Neville Thurlbeck?

Oh, right.
Let me save you some time...

I have an email written to you,

er, which is marked for Neville

from Ross Hindley,
and it contains transcripts of 35...

Everything I did came out in court.

Anything more than that,
I didn't do.

They cut you off, right?

You do know you're still open
to future charges?

Get out now, before the whole thing
collapses on you.

You know I've got five kids
in there.

And you come to my house
and what, threaten me?

I wasn't threatening you.

You any idea
what you're dealing with?

GLENN CHUCKLES

Look, you do yours,
and I'll do mine, yeah?

I wasn't threatening you.

I was just telling you
they won't help.

'OK, so, there is a lie
happening here.'

The CPS memo shows this stretches
right inside News International.

Glenn Mulcaire
essentially confirmed it.

He didn't confirm it.

I'm digging in. In the meantime,
I'd like to publish

"Are Scotland Yard
Scared of Rupert Murdoch?"

Saying what?

Saying they...

buried evidence which
should have been passed to the CPS.

Poking the bear. Well, that's
what we do now. Poke the bear.

No. Can we just take a minute?
What's your angle here?

Well, I have two lines of attack.

One, to reveal
who was on their shopping list.

I need names. Much more of them.

There were far more than, than...
three royals, five non-royals.

I want to know
who signed off on these names.

I need proof
it was more than Clive Goodman.

How will you get that?

My second line of attack
is to get inside the police...

A mistake.
..to discover why this evidence

wasn't flagged to the CPS.

What criminality was ignored,
and why?

John Yates called me and said
we've got the wrong end of the stick

with the police in all this.

WE'RE on the wrong end of the stick?
Yes!

Do you not think that's possible?

Look, are we sure this is sensible?

We're risking our relationship
with the police

and with good journalists
from other newspapers.

Why? To root out a few bad apples.

It doesn't seem...
Bad apples, wrong sticks?!

I agree with Nick.

The Neville email is extraordinary,

and the fact that
they didn't flag it to the CPS

more extraordinary still.

A chief reporter seems to have
been involved in hacking.

That didn't warrant
an investigation?

There are potentially
thousands of victims,

but the Met
is only claiming a small number.

What do you think, Gill?

For a public interest defence,

you need to be absolutely sure
of your facts.

Right now, this feels a bit small.

I have to say I agree.

Let's pause
on the Scotland Yard article.

Let's let the PCC...

Press Complaints Commission.

The PCC will
settle all of this down.

They'll back us,
and it will all be easier.

What else have we got?

Something other than

"When's Gordon Brown going to call
this next damn election?"

DAVID: 'Listen, Alan's nervous,
but he's right.'

You need more, but the angles
you're pursuing, also right.

Who says the PCC are gonna back us?

What, you don't think they will?

Why is Alan waiting for them?
You know we have to keep pushing.

It's kill or be killed.
We can't wait.

Yes. The Sunday Times
are getting ready to publish

on John Ford and Alan.

Right.
Mm.

Have Limosis come back
with any more?

Nothing that gives us
categorical proof.

He's in trouble.

Just give him time.

They're accusing him
of being a hypocrite.

We have hypocrisy on hypocrisy.
The world's gone mad.

Look, Nick...

Nick.

No, Nick. Nick, Nick.

Whatever you're doing, Nick, stop.
NICK DIALLING

LINE RINGING OUT

WOMAN: 'Hello?'

Hi, this is Nick Davies
of The Guardian.

Can I have The Sunday Times
managing editor's office?

WHISPERS: I mean it, Nick.

WOMAN 2: 'Hello?'

Hi, this is Nick Davies
of The Guardian.

'Right.'
Yeah.

I'd like confirmation,
on the record,

of, A, how many times
you've made payments to John Ford

to blag into confidential databases,

and B, the period of time over which
these payments have been made.

'OK. We'll need to investigate.'

Of course. You'll need
to do some investigation.

You just call me back

whenever you've had the chance
to do so, yeah?

'Right.'

Great, thanks. Bye-bye.

GLENN SIGHS
Hi.

Peace offering.

I don't drink.

Can I get you something softer?

A Mars bar?
GLENN CHUCKLES

Yeah, sure, I'd tell you
everything I know for a Mars bar.

I wasn't... I'm not threatening you.

No, no. You're Willy Wonka.
Chocolate for everyone.

NICK LAUGHS

I want to know
your side of the story.

How'd you find me here?

You're on the club's website.

You won the Big Break competition
two years ago. Congratulations.

In court transcripts,
it says that you worked for

News Of The World
for 70 hours a week.

Oh, here we go.

Over six years,
that's over 20,000 hours.

What were you doing for them
during that time?

I'm a PI. I did PI work.

For who?

Because it wasn't just
Clive Goodman.

Oh, oh, oh. Naming names?
That's two Mars bars, at least.

I know you aren't to blame
for all this.

Your name is in the mud already.

If you explain exactly what you did
and who you were working for...

Even if I wanted to tell you who,

the police have got
all my notebooks and my computers

and everything, so...

Notebooks? What's in those?

GLENN SIGHS

Fuck you. It was in the CPS report
that your office was searched

and material seized, but
I didn't know there were notebooks.

You find me a PI
who doesn't write things down.

Well, what's in them?
Lines of inquiry?

Names of the people
you were hacking -

sorry, doing PI work on?

And the names of
who you were doing them for?

Names of
the News Of The World journalists.

Go away.

And take your cheap beer with you.

I do not think...

genuinely, really do not think that
you should be the fall guy here.

Yeah, well, be careful
that you're not a fall guy too.

Eh, champ?

Now, please fuck off.

Let me do the one thing
I still enjoy.

All right.

Good luck.

'Mulcaire's given me an idea.'

CHARLOTTE: 'Good.
All he's given me is a headache.'

We need to get inside
the court system,

we need to get more information
released.

'Sorry?'

They won't release documents to me.

They will if they're compelled to
by a judge.

'Hang on. Can you calm down?'

What?

Children.

You are aware it's the weekend?

Oh, right. The police
have Mulcaire's notebooks.

If we can get them into
the public eye, we'll see...

who hired who, how high this goes,
who was being hacked.

'I need...
We need compelled evidence.'

KIDS CHATTERING

You swapped between
"I need" and "We need"

in the same sentence,
do you know that?

I know you've other clients.

I know you're building
several cases here.

'Help me, it'll help you too.'

KIDS LAUGHING

We don't work together, Nick.

Well, of course we don't.
But we do have the same cause.

'I can't get inside the notebooks

'because I'm not mentioned
in the notebooks.'

But you find a client
who IS in there,

who has the bravery
to take it to court, suddenly...

you can see
how much this opens up.

Yeah.

SHE INHALES SHARPLY

Let me, erm...

There might be somebody
you could talk to.

Well, let me know
as soon as you can, OK?

Yes, I heard you. I'm on it.

OK, thanks. Bye.

There is an art to fear.

An art the News Of The World
and The Sun

and all those nasty buggers
mastered a long time ago.

They call it monstering.

Grievous emotional harm.

The kind of injury from which
some victims simply never recover.

A monstering is intended
to destroy the victim involved,

and it is intended to make sure

that no-one stands up to them
ever again.

Take former Labour
government minister Clare Short.

She criticised The Sun's use
of topless women to sell the paper.

She found herself denounced
to millions as...

Killjoy Clare.

Short on looks...

Short on brains.

The paper offered free car stickers,

sent page three models
round to her home,

ran a beauty contest
to ask their readers

whether they would prefer to see
her face or the back of a bus.

PHOTOGRAPHERS CLAMOURING

The News Of The World
ran two bogus stories

suggesting Clare
was involved in pornography,

tried to buy old photographs of her
as a 20-year-old in a nightdress

and published a smear story

which attempted to link her
to a West Indian gangster.

GUN COCKS, FIRES

They monstered her.

It was horrible.

In his diary, Alastair Campbell
recalls the ferocious monstering

which was given
to the then Transport Secretary,

Stephen Byers, in 2002.

It continued even after he resigned.

It's like they get a corpse,

but then they're disappointed
there's nothing left to kill.

So they try and kill
the dead body too.

So standing up to it,

standing up to that paper
takes guts.

And possibly a little insanity.

Max, it's an honour.

An honour? Is that right?

Max Clifford.

King of the kiss and tell.

His job was
bargaining with the tabloids

to get the best headlines
and the most money

for his string of clients.

Didn't need to be true,
just needed to sell.

Do you remember
"Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster"?

He wrote that headline.

But maybe it takes a tabloid man
to kill the tabloids.

I'm sincerely grateful
for you being here.

Charlotte explained your problem.

I have a feeling that our interests
might align on this.

They hacked me. That's on record.

And I want to find out
who signed off on it.

Well, that's extremely important.

We HOPE it will be important.

We've had our first disclosure. We
made an application to the courts.

This is everything
Mulcaire wrote about Max.

Hm.

They've redacted everything.

In particular,
anything which might identify

the News Of The World journalists

who might have
commissioned the hacking.

I'm going back to court.
We'll get more.

Question. When they disclosed
Gordon Taylor's paperwork,

did they redact anything?

No.
Why start now?

Because it implicates them.

So did Gordon Taylor.

They're... They're working out
how to make themselves impenetrable.

They're watching us.

You do know what you're taking on?

Do you know who you're talking to?

I believe Rebekah Brooks
is your friend.

Didn't you help her
when she was accused of assault?

I help her. But not in that case.

I have my loyalties,
and I have beliefs.

I mean, I know Andy Coulson.

But him,
sitting next to the Prime Minister,

that's wrong in every way.

All the same...

I've spent my entire life
inside that machine.

I know what their guns smell like.

Do you?

We need you, Max.

Christ. If I'm your best hope...

you're fucked.

SHERIDAN: You look tired.

Are you sleeping?

Oh, I've definitely slept better.

That, erm, mortgage application,
did that come back at all?

No, but there was
something else. Erm...

So, when I was picking the kids up,
er, someone I didn't recognise

started talking to me
about a Maggie someone.

Now, that's an ex of yours, right?

Oh, God. Did they see the kids?

Yeah, I mean,
they kept it casual, but...

Shit!

Maggie?
God, they're desperately digging.

I didn't like it, Nick.

School gate.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Well, look, they approach you again,

you take out your phone,
you take a photograph.

OK.

And promise me it's not
gonna get worse than this.

Well, they'd be really stupid
to do anything I could print.

But I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.

Will they find any skeletons?

If they look properly,
they'll find a cemetery.

KNOCKING
This is a delivery.

You stay where you are.
No, no, no. Let me go.

All right.
We'll... Let's talk later.

Bye, kids.

Bye.
KIDS: Bye.

DOOR OPENS
Alan!

Sheridan.
Oh...

How are you?

I'm good. You all right?
Mm.

I am, erm... I'll leave you to it.

Hello. You coming in?

No.

I've got food on. There's enough.

I have some, er, good news,
actually.

Max Clifford, of all people,
taking them to court.

John Ford thing's gone away.

Great.

You think I don't know how?

Let's talk inside.

Nick Davies,

always guaranteed to bring
a flamethrower to a knife fight.

It was the best thing to do.

You didn't think
to consult me beforehand?

It's gone away, Alan.

Because you, erm...

What's the right word to use here?

..provoked them.

In Flat Earth News,
I found substantial proof

that The Sunday Times
were using John Ford.

That doesn't matter.
Of course it matters.

They were wrong to use John Ford.

I was wrong if I did,
inadvertently, use John Ford.

And you were wrong to get involved

in a way that wasn't asked for
and wasn't warranted.

I was trying to broker peace
with John Witherow,

and you could have
destabilised that,

and starting a fight
with the News Of The World

and The Sunday Times...

I knew it would work.
Are you denying that it did?

No. But if you knew it would work,

why didn't you make that call
at the very beginning?

Why did you try and find him?

Spend a couple of nights in a car
with David Leigh?

Jesus Christ, Nick, you're such a...

..hazard.

I was just following what was...

Alan, come on. Look...
HE CHUCKLES

We need to keep pushing.

They will push back.
We need to keep pushing.

I get it, you're exhausted.

You think you're taking on
everyone by yourself,

but it's not just you in the box
on this one, Nick.

It's all of us.

And I can't have a hand on your leg
the whole time.

CAR DOOR CLOSES

ENGINE STARTS

HE SIGHS

HE SIGHS

NICK'S MOTHER: 'What have you done?

'You stupid child.'

PHONE BUZZES

Yeah?

DAVID: 'I guessed you'd be up.'
Yup.

'The Press Complaints Commission
have come back.'

Not good news?

' "The PCC has seen
no new evidence

' "to suggest that the practice
of the phone messaging tapping

' "was undertaken by other
beyond Goodman and Mulcaire

' "or evidence that
the News Of The World executives

' "knew about Goodman
or Mulcaire's activities."

'You were right, Alan was wrong.
They haven't backed us either.'

Yeah, OK.

'Sorry, Nick.'
Mm. Thanks for calling.

Bye.
'Bye.'

PHONE BUZZES

AUTOMATED VOICE:
'Please enter your four-digit PIN.'

DIALLING

AUTOMATED VOICE:
'Welcome to your voicemail.

'You have four new messages.

'To listen to your messages,
press one.'

BEEP
'Er, this is Carl.

'I'm here to read your meter.
You said you'd be here...'

BEEP
'Message deleted. Next message.'

'Hey, it's Charlotte.

'We've entered
the amended claim for Max,

'and we're waiting for
the courts...'

BEEP
'Message deleted. Next message.'

SHERIDAN: 'Nick, hi, it's me.
Er, another one.

'Not sure if it's anything,
but a girl you used to...'

'Message deleted.

'Next message.'

FEEDBACK,
ELECTRICAL WHIRRING

HE TAKES DEEP BREATH

HE CLEARS THROAT

KNOCKING

Hello, Dad.

You're looking thinner.

You look good.

Still a charmer.

CROCKERY RATTLING

I should be helping with that, Papa.

Ha. Should, would, could.

No, you can't.

Anyway, these are the good hours.

What's that mean?

Hips hurt, knees hurt,
back hurts till 11:00am,

and then again from 3:00pm.

But 11:00 till 3:00...
Is a holiday.

Never get old.

So, you've got four good hours,
and you sleep for...

presumably eight...

Yes, well, don't turn it into
a maths puzzle.

I can still do the crossword,
however my hips feel.

That's all that counts.

The crossword in The Times.

Should I stop buying The Times?

Yes.

I won't.
I know.

I've, erm, been reading your pieces.

You even managed
to watch the Select Committee.

I have no idea
how you even did that.

I'm not a dinosaur!

I can use the Internet.

So, is it all as hard as it looks?

It's fine.

You've got nothing to prove.

I'm not trying to prove anything.

Your mother would have liked it.

All this trouble.

She always liked trouble.

Just be safe with yourself.

That's all I ask.

Just be safe.

Thank you.

Fifth floor, yeah?

TICKING

DOOR CREAKS

Mr Davies.
Assistant Commissioner.

Thank you for coming in.
Thank you.

Dick said we should meet.
Yes.

Dick Fedorcio was kind enough
to arrange the meeting.

I thought it useful
so we could smooth matters over,

so we can help each other.

Mm. I don't think I can help.

No, no, no. I'm here to help you.

A story that makes
Scotland Yard look good.

I just need you to confirm
that in order to be able to,

er, inform all the potential victims
of the hacking,

that you've set up a new database

containing all the evidence
which you gathered in 2006.

Have we?

Er...

Well, I've very good word

from lawyers who've been in touch
with the Yard,

saying that you're taking
the need to organise

the evidence which perhaps wasn't
organised quite so well seriously.

All right, fine.

Maybe we have organised a database.

I will give you that.

But in return,

maybe you can cease and desist
with briefing everyone against me.

We have nothing to do with
News International,

and you bloody well know it.

Assistant Commissioner,
my interest...

Do you think I don't know
what you're doing?

When I appeared in front of
that damn Select Committee,

I could see, I could see in
the eye movements of the MPs

that you'd briefed
all but one of them.

I'm sorry, eye movements?

Mm-hm. I'm a clever cop, Mr Davies.

Right.

Why didn't you pass the CPS
the email to Neville Thurlbeck

which clearly implicated him
in the hacking scandal?

Was it because,
well, as the CPS have said,

that you could only use a sample

because the evidence
was unmanageable otherwise?

No. The CPS were clear.

With the Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act,

it is only a crime

if the intended victim
had not already heard the message.

No-one interprets RIPA like that
except you.

All I want to know
is the extent of this.

Can you tell me how many victims
of phone hacking

you've been able to identify?

Mr Davies,

the Crown Prosecution Service
do not agree with you.

The Press Complaints Commission
do not agree with you.

And the Metropolitan Police
certainly do not agree with you.

There's dog-minded,
and then there's just dog.

This left-wing attack on Murdoch
by The Guardian...

If you can't give me a bald number,

just tell me how many victims
were in Mulcaire's notebooks.

HE LAUGHS

I have never fallen out
with a journalist before.

Well, you finally have done so.

Congratulations.

DOOR OPENS

HE SIGHS

CHATTER

This is Kate Saunders
from The Guardian newspaper...

PHONE RINGING

Hi.

Look, I brought you a gift.

It's an "I'm not sorry" gift.

Gonna look?

But I'm also, erm...

I'm stuck, so...

If calling it an "I'm not sorry"
gift is offensive,

call it a "damn" gift.

As in, "Damn, I'm stuck.
Please help".

Why are you stuck?

They are... Everybody is...

HE SIGHS

No-one is telling me the truth,
and I...

Basic thing about you, Nick,

is that each time
you find someone lying to you,

you are utterly amazed,

even though you've devoted most
of your life to uncovering liars.

I wear the coat of a cynic
only to conceal the heart...

..of an agitated otter.

They, erm... Talking of cynicism,

they're now spreading a rumour
that I have a love child.

A love child.

They're coming after me too.

Sheridan's been farming
all sorts of calls.

But they're not telling lies
about you.

Why are the only lies about me?
Don't know.

Because they think attacking me

is the easiest way
of shutting you up?

Clever, really.

They know I need you.

How curious you choose now
to say something so kind.

Oh, God.

I'm your Sancho Panza.

HE LAUGHS

I always thought I was yours.

I'm sorry for making
your life difficult.

I don't...

I don't take our friendship
to mean that...

I don't - I don't expect you
to print everything I write.

You're just doing what you're doing.

Which is why you're the best.

Which is why I pay you. Handsomely.

HE CHUCKLES

You're just as optimistic as me.

Christ, you thought the PCC
would come back on our side.

Even I didn't...

How a so-called industry regulator
could say that about us...

Well, it's the death
of self-regulation.

Me? What do I do?

Can't you call your Mr Apollo?

No, he's gone. Said he would.

He always contacted me,
never from the same line twice.

Well, wait for Max Clifford
and your day in court.

Max is important, but we can't wait.
We're in a firefight here.

They're gonna keep slinging mud
till something sticks.

Then...

Oh, what about the phone companies?

Sorry?

Yates made that claim
in the Select Committee

that they'd asked the companies
if there were any other victims

of Mulcaire and Goodman,
in order to take appropriate action.

Yeah, I remember.
Well...

Ask the phone companies to disclose
how many victims they identified

and warned of being hacked.

You might get the hacked numbers
that way.

You're a genius, Sancho.

Never call me that again.

Go on. Click it.

Just click it.

PEN CLICKS
Got books. She's not naked.

Those pens, you click, they're
naked, but she's covered in books.

It's a joke.
Thanks for explaining it to me.

I'll never use it.
I'll never ask you to.

Thank you.

The Commissioner called
after you left Yates.

He said to me that, erm,

your coverage of the hacking scandal

was exaggerated and incorrect.

It's the first time
I've felt genuine confidence

that we're doing
absolutely the right thing.

NICK CHUCKLES SOFTLY

Adios.

The Select Committee had,
of course, rumbled on after us,

meeting press,
politicians, the police.

Trying to meet Rebekah Brooks -
she said no.

Though they succeeded
in meeting Andy Coulson, who said...

As little as possible.

But they were working it
as best they could.

And I was working with them
as best I could,

feeding them occasional questions.

Which we asked in our own way.

Hadn't occurred to me
that the police revealing -

in a memo written by Yates -

that the mobile phone companies
had been contacted...

was a way in.

The police provided
the individual phone companies

details of the telephone numbers.

And it was agreed that
they would individually research,

assess and address whether or not,
and to what degree,

their customers had been the subject
of contact by the suspects.

What I'm looking to find out is,
when the police contacted you,

what number of victims
you managed to trace

and how many you contacted.

MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
Right, but... Yes.

But John Yates was quoted
in the Select Committee

as saying you were spoken to, so...

MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY

My question is, did you ignore
the Assistant Commissioner

of the Metropolitan Police?

Yeah, sure. Sure, I'll hold.
DAVID: Nick.

O2, 40 victims.

Now, it's only one.

It's only one.
When one goes, they all...

Yes, it is.
Now, O2 have just confirmed

that once they were alerted
by the police,

they contacted 40 hacking victims.

I just wondered
whether you have a number for us.

Or have you more to hide than them?

MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
Great. Great. How many?

MAN: 'Broadly the same as O2.'

You think you can do any better
than "Broadly the same as O2"?

Orange have come back
with 45 victims.

Do you want to match that number
instead?

MAN LAUGHING
IN NEWSROOM

No? OK. Right, OK.

Well, thank you very much.
Thank you, bye.

O2, 40 victims.

Vodafone, 40 victims,
Orange, 45 victims.

Together with the original eight,

that's more than 130 people
who had their phones hacked.

Far more than Yates said.

And this is just the tip
of a very, very big iceberg.

OK. Let's do it.

PRINTERS WHIRRING

'This wasn't just Goodman.

'This wasn't just the Royals.

'This was a practice.
This was our foothold.

'And yet...'

Even though News International
should have been on fire,

it, once again,
barely hit the sides.

DISTORTED WHIZZING

And no other newspaper thought
it was an important story either.

DAVE COOK: 'Good scoop.'

The mobile phone companies,
very good.

Makes me happy
to hear you say words like "scoop".

Why, is that not what you say?
You ever said "You're nicked"?

I think I tried that once or twice
when I was a younger man.

It doesn't matter.
No-one's reporting it.

Doesn't matter what it is,
we're just getting frozen out.

So try harder.
What?

Try harder.
Stop pussyfooting around.

You think this is pussyfooting?

I put my paper on the line,
myself on the line.

But you're not nailing people.

You're not asking
the right questions.

Oh, you're a journalist now?

Why was your Neville email
not passed on?

Print the photo on your front page

of Assistant Commissioner John Yates
and Rebekah Brooks

sitting together
at the Police Bravery Awards.

They sat together?

Print what she said in Parliament,

"We have paid the police
for information",

and say that doesnae even
go halfway to the truth.

There's a murky swamp
out there, Nick.

Top-tier police and the media.

And that needs reporting.

I'm trying to write about
all these things.

Unfortunately,
it's speculative and libellous.

You need evidence. So do I.

If you want to help,
give me something concrete.

All right. I've dug.

The case, the Neville email,
the hacking.

That case was given
to Specialist Operations.

Terrorist branch?

The boss at the time
was a guy called Andy Hayman.

I know that name.

Yeah, well, he disappeared.

Retirement in a puff of smoke.

And then reappeared...

Er, yeah, writing articles
for The Times.

That's why I know the name.
Exactly.

The press goes through the police
like a stick of rock.

And News International,
they're the worst of the lot.

It's still speculative.

Sorry, my friend. I need more.

Aye.

PHONE RINGS

Charlotte. 'Hi.'
Tell me some good news.

'It's Max.'

Max.

Fucking hell, you brought him?

Max, we've got them on the rack.

You settle, the whole thing
gets covered up again.

You've got them on the rack?
With what?

What we need, I can't get.

Stand tall.
Be the man who made a difference.

"Be the man"!
Do you listen to yourself?

This isn't...
Please, listen to my advice here.

You just want your piece of it.

Oh, your backwoods deal?

Oh, I like to think
I'm better than that.

No-one is better than money.
How much?

Oh, go on! How much?

Fuck off.

Oh, well. We tried.

The Murdochs agreed to pay Clifford
more than £1 million.

Some to cover his legal costs,

most in the form
of guaranteed income

for stories he would sell them
over the next three years.

This meant it could be presented

as something other
than the payment of damages.

This meant Charlotte
didn't get her cut.

This meant it wasn't news.

Nobody was fooled,
but it was clever.

Our biggest gun was spiked.

TV: 'First election debate.

'Tonight, history in the making,
as we are joined by

'the leader of
the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg,

'the Conservative Party leader,
David Cameron,

'and the leader of the Labour Party,
Gordon Brown.'

AUDIENCE APPLAUDING

NICK: 'The truth is,
power and secrecy walk hand in hand.

'Power enjoys secrecy
because it increases its scope.

'Power generates secrecy
simply because it can.

'Downing Street, Scotland Yard,

'they're no different
to other powerful organisations.

'They find secrecy easy,

'natural and extremely helpful,

'regardless of whether or not
it may cheat the public

'of information to which
they have a profound right.

'But here's the thing
about power and secrecy.

'If you can expose the secrecy,

'you might... you might, MIGHT...

'..break the power.'

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