The Hack (ITV)
LISTINGS writers on theTimesseemed to struggle to fill up the “Picks of the Day” column on 24 September. With a dinosaur insistence on relegating Apple TV+’sSlow Horsesto a “Streaming Choice” footnote, readers were directed to a drama repeat on BBC Four and crime fiction on an obscure terrestrial network, U&Alibi. With the titles’ TV desks now integrated, advice might have come from colleagues on theSunday Times, but theCulturesupplement also seemed short of recommended gems in that Wednesday peak-time.
Both publications (plus the Sun), for whatever reason, failed to big up The Hack, a new seven-part ITV drama starting that night about the phone-hacking scandals at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World and their investigation by Grauniad reporter Nick Davies.
While the decision of News International executives to look away, fearing themselves caught between the sack and a hard place, feels understandable, there has been surprise that the Graun, the hero of the piece, gave the first episode a stinker of a two-star review, calling it “deeply lacklustre”. This was initially interpreted as virtue-signalling independence or even current Guardian editor Kath Viner’s revenge on her predecessor. But the truth is that the review was critically justified.