Who Is Nick Davies? Meet the Investigative Powerhouse David Tennant Plays in The Hack

ITV just rolled out The Hack, and it doesn’t play it safe. It’s a nuts-and-bolts thriller about how the UK’s phone-hacking scandal actually got cracked open, told from the trenches rather than the podium. If you like your media dramas with receipts and a little chaos at the edges, this is that.

So what is The Hack doing?

The series zeroes in on two dogged investigators coming at the same mess from different angles: freelance reporter Nick Davies (played with unnerving precision by David Tennant) and Metropolitan Police detective David Cook (Robert Carlyle). Episode 1 tilts heavily toward Davies, and the show has some fun with form — screenwriter Jack Thorne has him break the fourth wall to walk us through the stranger beats of the story. One of those? A pivotal, still-anonymous source known only as Mr Apollo. Yes, that is a real codename. No, we still don’t know who he is. Inside baseball and a little wild.

The Tennant factor (and a very pleased former editor)

Toby Jones pops up as Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor who backed Davies when it counted. At a screening, the real Rusbridger basically did a victory lap for Tennant’s performance:

"Absolutely miraculous. I mean, what a dream to be the hero of a seven-part drama being played by the most handsome actor in Britain! I feel he deserves it."

Who is Nick Davies, really?

When we meet him in The Hack, Davies is a freelance investigative journalist, largely writing for the Guardian and laser-focused on abuse of power. He’d already rattled cages with his 2008 book Flat Earth News, which took a flamethrower to newsroom malpractice — the kind of stuff that warps coverage: racial bias, corrupt cops getting greased, and newsrooms getting too cozy with the powerful. That didn’t make him popular in his own industry.

Then came the tip. An unnamed source pointed Davies toward routine phone-hacking at British tabloids, with the now-defunct News of the World sitting squarely in the crosshairs. With Rusbridger’s backing, he dug in and led the reporting that reshaped UK journalism — and raised the uncomfortable question of who really holds power in the country.

The reading list (if the show sends you down the rabbit hole)

• Flat Earth News (2008) — his first big autopsy of journalism’s bad habits: skewed narratives, compromised policing, and too-cozy media–power relationships.
• Hack Attack (2014) — the inside story of the phone-hacking investigation, charting six years of shoe-leather reporting and fallout.
• The School Report (2000) — non-fiction, education-focused investigation.
• Dark Heart (1997) — non-fiction dive into Britain’s social underbelly.
• Murder on Ward Four (1993) — non-fiction true-crime investigation.
• White Lies (1991) — non-fiction investigation.

Where is Davies now?

He retired from journalism in 2016 and stepped out of the spotlight. According to his site, he stopped working to travel — which, after that decade, feels earned.

Where to watch

The Hack is streaming in full on ITVX. New episodes air Wednesdays on ITV1.