Original subtitles

(PROJECTOR CLICKS, WHIRS)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

Previously on The Hack...

Hacking phones of the News of the World

has been endemic.

Endemic?

They've hacked thousands.

There is an industry making huge profit

from invading peoples' 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.

(BEEPS)

MICHAEL: Papa here. Just wondering when you're over?

Oh, uh, the kitchen tap seems to be fixed now,

- which is good. So, uh... - (BEEPS)

AUTOMATED VOICE: Message deleted. Next message.

Nick, it's Sheridan.

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

They said it's in relation to the re-mortgage,

but... (SIGHS) I felt like someone was fishing.

- (BEEPS) - AUTOMATED VOICE: Message deleted.

Next message.

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

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

- (FEEDBACK) - (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Oh, God.

Don't you dare.

Has Alan rung again?

Possibly.

Possibly?

NICK: Could be the school telling me my son has 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.

MAN: 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.

- (CHUCKLING) - Um, but I do have...

Well, it's 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, uh,

we have quite a few questions for you.

I understand that but I think your questions will be given context...

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

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

Do you want the evidence or not?

I would like to read it.

Yup. Okay.

- There you go. - Okay.

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.

(PEOPLE WHISPERING)

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES)

ALAN: "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?

(MOBILE VIBRATING)

ALAN: Alan.

Hi.

No, it's fine.

I think we got away with it.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

What are they saying?

Yes.

(INHALES SHARPLY) Can you just... Yes.

Right. Thanks for letting me know.

David Leppard, The Sunday Times.

- Why is Leppard phoning you? - 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...

Er, 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.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

(KEYBOARD CLACKING)

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... - (SNORING)

The newspaper industry loves a bit of hypocrisy to expose.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC INTENSIFIES, STOPS)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Morning.

Not the face you were hoping to wake up to?

(GRUNTS)

(CLICKS TONGUE) 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.

(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.

- (MOBILE VIBRATING) - Don't answer it.

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

- It's an email. - Oh.

Hmm. A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service.

The CPS says, "It's not appropriate

"to re-open a case or revisit the decision."

Ugh! They're not backing us.

Who was it that John Yates said about the case...

Something about, uh, a small number of, uh...

Of hacks, yeah.

Our inquiries showed that they only use 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.

- This is Nick Davies of The Guardian. - MAN: Hi there.

I need to speak to somebody at the CPS

about the Glenn Mulcaire prosecution.

MAN: Uh, 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 "unmanageable".

- MAN: Okay. - I have information,

particularly an email that I want to discuss.

MAN: Uh, yes, sir. Um, can I put you on hold?

Yes, I will hold.

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.

I won't let it hurt Alan.

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

(SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING)

(DAVID GRUNTS)

(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. - (CHUCKLES)

And I need some non-Daniel Morgan advice.

What, you're saying poncy sandwiches don't come free?

Ah.

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. - Okay.

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 say.

But what I can say,

is that ever since Stephen Lawrence,

the Met's have made it their job to...

Well, Dick Fedorcio,

- director of communications. - Yeah, I've met him.

Well, 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 in 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 have 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, okay?

See, these people are not to be fucked with.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

- (MOBILE RINGING) - (FRIDGE DOOR OPENING, CLOSING)

There you go.

Charlotte Harris.

NICK: Nick Davies.

Right.

You sound delighted to hear from me.

CHARLOTTE: 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 who...

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

Good luck and goodbye.

- (DISCONNECTS) - Uh, right. Okay.

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.

(BANGING)

(DOOR OPENING)

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. 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,

uh, which is marked for Neville

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

Everything I did came out in court.

- Anything more, 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.

Have you any idea what you're dealing with here?

(CHUCKLES)

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

I wasn't threatening you.

- I was telling you they won't help. - (DOOR SLAMS)

NICK: Okay, 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. - That's what we do? 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. They were far more 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 proof?

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 of 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?

- (BLOWS RASPBERRY) - 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.

Well, 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. - Hmm.

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.

DAVID: Look, Nick.

Nick.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

No, Nick. Nick, Nick.

- Whatever you're doing, Nick, stop. - (DIALLING)

(PHONE RINGING)

WOMAN: Hello?

Hi, this is Nick Davies of The Guardian.

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

(WHISPERING) I mean it, Nick.

WOMAN: Hello?

Hi, this is Nick Davies of The Guardian.

- WOMAN: All 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.

WOMAN: Okay. 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?

WOMAN: Right.

Great, thanks. Bye-bye.

- (GLENN SIGHS) - Hi.

Peace offering.

I don't drink.

Can I get you something softer? A Mars bar?

(CHUCKLES) 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.

(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 here two years ago. Congratulations.

In court transcripts, it says that you worked

for News of the World for 70 hours a week.

(SIGHS) 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?

- (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) - (SIGHS) Fuck you.

It was in the CPS report that your office was searched

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

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

Yeah, 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.

(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

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.

(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)

NICK: Mulcaire's given me an idea.

CHARLOTTE: Oh, good. All he's given me is a headache.

We need to get inside the court system.

We need to get more information released.

CHARLOTTE: Sorry?

They won't release documents to me.

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

CHARLOTTE: 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. (INHALES SHARPLY)

Let me, um...

There might be somebody you could talk to.

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

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

Okay, 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 of looks.

Short on brains.

NICK: 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)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

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)

- (GUN FIRING) - NICK: 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.

NICK: Hmm.

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 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. - (DOOR CLOSES)

SHERIDAN: Are you sleeping?

Oh, I've definitely slept better.

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

No, but there was something else.

Um...

So, when I was picking the kids up, uh, 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 is casual, but...

Shit.

Maggie? God, they're desperately digging.

I didn't like it, Nick. School gate.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

Well, look, they approach you again,

you take out your phone, you take a photograph.

Okay. And promise me it's not going to 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?

Well, if they look properly, they'll find a cemetery.

- (KNOCKING) - This is a delivery.

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

- All right. - Um, we'll... Let's talk later.

Bye, kids.

NICK: Bye-bye. KIDS: Bye.

- (DOOR OPENS) - SHERIDAN: Alan.

ALAN: Sheridan. SHERIDAN: Oh.

(KISSING) How are you?

- I'm good. You all right? - Mmm.

SHERIDAN: I'm off. I'll leave you to it.

NICK: Hello. You coming in?

No.

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

I have some, uh, good news actually.

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

John Ford thing's gone away.

(CAR DEPARTING)

Great.

You think I don't know how?

- Let's talk inside. - Nick Davies,

always guaranteed to bring a flame thrower 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, um... (SMACKS LIPS)

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... (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 have a hand on your leg the whole time.

(CAR DOOR CLOSES)

- (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) - (ENGINE STARTING)

(SIGHS)

(SIGHS)

WOMAN: What have you done?

You stupid child.

(MOBILE VIBRATING)

Yeah?

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

DAVID: The Press Complaints Commission have come back.

Not good news?

DAVID: "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, okay.

DAVID: Sorry, Nick.

Mmm. Thanks for calling.

- Bye. - DAVID: Bye.

(MOBILE VIBRATING)

AUTOMATED VOICE: Please enter your four digit PIN.

(MOBILE BEEPS)

AUTOMATED VOICE: Welcome to your voicemail.

You have four new messages.

To listen to your messages, press one.

- (BEEPS) - MAN: Uh, this is Carl.

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

- (BEEPS) - AUTOMATED VOICE: Message deleted.

Next message.

CHARLOTTE: Hey, it's Charlotte.

We've entered the amended claim for Max

and we're waiting for the courts...

- (BEEPS) - AUTOMATED VOICE: Message deleted.

Next message.

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

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

AUTOMATED VOICE: Message deleted.

(GARBLED) Next message.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC BUILDS)

- (FEEDBACK) - (ELECTRICAL WHIRRING)

(DEEP BREATH, CLEARS THROAT)

(DOOR CLOSES, LOCKS)

(DOOR KNOCKER KNOCKS)

(DOOR OPENS)

Hello, Dad.

You're looking thinner.

You look good.

Still a charmer.

(CUPS RATTLING)

NICK: I should be helping with that, Papa.

(CHUCKLES) Should. Would. Could.

No, you can't.

Anyway, these are the good hours.

What's that mean?

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

And then again, from 3:00 pm.

- 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, but don't turn it into a maths puzzle.

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

That's all that counts. (GROANS SOFTLY)

The crossword in The Times.

Should I stop buying The Times?

Yes.

- I won't. - I know.

I've, um, been reading your pieces.

You've 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.

(SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING)

Just be safe with yourself.

That's all I ask.

Just be safe.

Thank you.

Fifth floor, yeah?

- (PHONE RINGING) - (LIFT DINGS)

(TICKING)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(DOOR OPENS, CREAKS)

- YATES: Mr Davies. - Assistant Commissioner.

- YATES: Thank you for coming in. - Thank you.

- YATES: 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.

Mmm. 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

uh, inform all the potential victims of the hacking

that you set up a new database

containing all the evidence which you gathered in 2006.

Have we?

Uh...

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...

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

When I appeared in front of that damn Select Committee,

I could see in the eye movements of the MPs

that you'd briefed all but one of them.

I'm sorry, eye movements?

Mmm-hmm. 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.

(LAUGHS)

I have never fallen out with a journalist before.

Well, you finally have done so.

Congratulations.

- (DOOR OPENS) - (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

- (LIFT DOOR OPENS) - (SIGHS)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

This is Kate Saunders from The Guardian newspaper.

(PHONE RINGING)

(KNOCKING)

Hi.

- (DOOR CLOSES) - Look, I brought you a gift.

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

Gonna look?

But I'm also, um... 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... (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, um... 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.

(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 expect you to print everything I write.

ALAN: You're just doing what you're doing.

Which is why you're the best.

Which is why I pay you. Handsomely.

(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.

(INHALES) 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.

- (CLICKS) - NICK: Got books.

She's not naked. There's pens when you click

and 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.

ALAN: The Commissioner called after you left Yates.

He said to me that, um, your coverage of the hacking scandal

was exaggerated and incorrect.

It's the first time I felt genuine confidence

that we're doing absolutely the right thing.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

Adios. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

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)

No? Okay. Right, okay.

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

(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)

- (KNOCKING) - 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.

Okay. Let's do it.

- (TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING) - (PRINTERS WHIRRING)

NICK: 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.

(DISTORTION SOUND)

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

(SLOW DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

DAVE: Good scoop.

The mobile phone companies, very good.

NICK: Makes me happy to hear you say words like scoop.

DAVE: Why, is that not what you say?

You ever say "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 pussy footing around.

You think this is pussy footing? I put my paper on the line.

I put myself on the line.

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?

DAVE: Print what she said in parliament,

"We have paid the police for information"

and say that doesn't even go halfway to the truth.

There's a murky swamp out there, Nick.

Top tier police in 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.

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 re-appeared...

Uh, yeah. Uh, 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.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

(MOBILE RINGING)

- Charlotte. Tell me some good news. - CHARLOTTE: Hi.

It's Max.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES)

Max.

Fucking hell, you brought him?

Max, we've got them on the rack.

You settle, the whole thing gets covered up again.

You 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?

CHARLOTTE: This isn't...

- Please, listen to my advice here. - You just want your piece of it.

Oh, your backwoods deal? I like to think I'm better than that.

- No one is better than money. - How much?

- Oh, go on! How much? - Fuck off.

CHARLOTTE: Oh, well. We tried.

The Murdochs agreed to pay Clifford more than a million pounds.

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.

- (INDISTINCT CHATTER) - MAN: (ON 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 CLAPPING)

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.

- (WOMAN VOCALISING) - (MUSIC CRESCENDOS, STOPS)