Lorne Balfe, Joshua Pacey - The Hack (2025) [Hi-Res]

ITV’s drama series from the storied creative trio of multi-BAFTA Award winner Jack Thorne, director Lewis Arnold (Sherwood) and producer Patrick Spence (Mr Bates vs the Post Office) tells the story of how investigative reporter Nick Davies uncovered phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World more than a decade ago.

David Tennant stars as Davies alongside Robert Carlyle, who plays Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook. Cook led the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, which is also told via The Hack.

The phone hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the World and imprisonment of its ex-editor Andy Coulson. Davies wrote an award-winning book about it, Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch. The headline-grabbing story reared its head again recently after Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) apologized to Prince Harry, settled with him and for the first time admitted “unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”

The composers describe how they approached the scoring –
“The Hack follows Nick Davies, an investigative journalist at The Guardian, as he uncovers evidence of a scandal at renowned paper The News of the World. As he delves deeper into the story, it becomes clear that the scale of the phone hacking was greater than he could ever have anticipated. Nick makes it his mission to reveal the truth, gradually discovering how those responsible were connected to another even more troubling event: an unsolved murder.

The score for The Hack had two stories to tell: Nick Davies’s journalistic investigation, and DCS Dave Cook’s homicide case. We chose two distinct styles for the parallel storylines, each focused on expressing the emotional journeys of the central characters: Nick and Dave. Nick’s journey required something meticulous, professional, and above all driving to underscore his relentless motivation to uncover the truth. The darkness of the murder investigation needed to be gritty and intense, and we used a recurring motif of a ticking clock to emphasise Dave’s time running out.

As the series progresses and Nick and Dave’s stories begin to intertwine, the two musical styles also start to merge together, culminating in a powerful final scene where Nick hammers home the power of the truth, and the consequences for obscuring it.”

Tracklist:
1-1 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Based On A True Story [2:06]
1-2 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - We Didn't Get The Rights [3:12]
1-3 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - I'm Here To Arrest You [3:02]
1-4 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - The Story Goes Live [4:12]
1-5 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - What Do You Know? [4:37]
1-6 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Barbecued [3:29]
1-7 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Monstering [2:15]
1-8 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - You're Such A Hazard [4:09]
1-9 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Forty Victims [1:46]
1-10 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Criminal Investigation [3:55]
1-11 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - It's Time To Go Nuclear [2:32]
1-12 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Don't Drop The Ball [2:37]
1-13 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - It Was Cruel [2:39]
1-14 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - What Did You Do? [3:46]
1-15 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Milly [4:45]
1-16 Lorne Balfe,Joshua Pacey - Truth Is Precious [8:37]