If you're gripped by The Hack on ITV, we're not surprised. Coming from Adolescence screenwriter Jack Thorne, the script was always going to be brilliant.
Alongside the involvement of the team behind the true-crime drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, The Hack has a winning formula - despite the content being incredibly murky.
The seven-part drama follows real-life investigative journalist Nick Davies as he works tirelessly to expose phone hacking by The News of the World, to get better stories.
Starting in the mid-90s, the now-defunct tabloid hacked the voicemails of celebrities, royals, and other high-profile people of interest, despite the police dragging their heels. Nick Davies collected evidence to prove what was happening at the newspaper.
The News of the World eventually closed in 2011 when it could no longer survive public outcry relating to the scandal, and the subsequent trials, investigations, and public inquiries continued for years after the tabloid ceased publication.
As the journalist who exposed the scandal, and as editor of the paper while the scandal was unrolling, viewers are interested to know what happened to Nick Davies and Andy Coulson afterwards - here's where they are now.
Where is Nick Davies now?
Now aged 72, Nick Davies retired from journalism in 2016. Between July 2009 and July 2011, he wrote nearly a hundred pieces for the Guardian about criminal activity in Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World.
His determination to expose government, police and press regulators in their failure to hold Murdoch and News of the World to account led to six different police inquiries. Notably, the Leveson inquiry into the culture and practices of the press made a big impact, and he won several awards for his efforts.
The last book Davies wrote before retirement was Hack Attack. The book delves into the work of himself and a team of lawyers, MPs ,and celebrities who uncovered the web of lies protecting powerful media moguls.
It also exposes crime and cover-ups creeping out of tabloid newsrooms, reaching all the way to Scotland Yard and Downing Street.
According to Davies' website, in his retirement and pursuit of adventures, he "was last seen somewhere between a meditation retreat in northern Thailand and an inner city suburb of Medellin, Colombia."
Where is Andy Coulson now?
Andy Coulson set up his own corporate PR agency, Coulson Partners, in 2016 and still currently runs the business. The agency provides counsel, campaigns, crisis management, and content for high-profile individuals and businesses.
As part of his venture, Coulson also hosts the Crisis What Crisis? podcast, which aims to offer "authentic, judgment-free storytelling from those who have been at the brutal, sometimes life-threatening, sharp end of crisis and who survived and thrived in the process."
Coulson spoke in depth to Country & Town House in 2024 about the fallout from the hacking scandal. "I found out a lot about myself," he said, adding, "I discovered that I’m someone who is flawed in some pretty significant ways, professionally, in terms of what happened at the News of the World."
He continued, "And then I discovered that failure can be quite useful. I’m a great believer that there is opportunity in almost every crisis, serious illness aside. And that’s my view of failure; if you can confront it, accept it, understand it, analyse it a bit, you can really put it to work. And that’s what I’ve attempted to do."
Offering apologies for his wrongdoings, Coulson did say he'd never apologise for getting on with life and finding new business opportunities - he does have a wife and three children and needs an income.
"Whenever I talk about this stuff," he said of the scandal, "It’s very, very important to me that I apologise as well. I think that is also very important. What went wrong at the News of the World was real. It impacted a lot of people’s lives.
"And I’m sorry about it. I really am, and always will be, and will always apologise for it, actually, but what I won’t apologise for – and this is the interesting thing about apologies – is for going on with my life."
