David Tennant looks like ‘all three Top Gear presenters combined’ in new series

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No, that’s not Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s love child, it’s David Tennant’s latest transformation into a journalist for a drama about the infamous phone hacking scandal.

Though you would be forgiven, the Doctor Who legend, 53, is not playing an amalgamation of the Top Gear presenter but is rather investigative journalist Nick Davies who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World.

Tennant’s likeness to The Grand Tour trio was pointed out by X user @willbondspeare, who said: ‘He looks like all 3 top gear hosts combined.’

@Chronusxx elaborated: ‘The shirt of Clarkson, the hairstyle and eyebrows of Hammond and the hair colour and expression of May.’

In agreement, @EsotericaThe questioned: ‘Is this David Tennant turned into a Top Gear host by AI? Is this real? This is David Tennant right?’

@norahsalem06 admitted: ‘For the longest time as a child I thought David Tennant and Richard Hammond were the same person.’

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But David is not starring in a motoring drama; instead, he has been cast in upcoming seven-part ITV series The Hack, written by the BAFTA, Tony and Olivier award winning screenwriter, Jack Thorne, best known for his work on the This is England miniseries’, His Dark Materials and the Enola Holmes film series.

Coming from the production team behind last year’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which triggered a massive national response, this new show also stars the likes of Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones.

The synopsis reads: ‘Running parallel, the story of the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (Carlyle).’

Meanwhile, Jones plays The Guardian’s former editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger. 

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ITV released first-look images from the show today, with one showing Tennant in character with grey hair standing in a newsroom. Another shows Carlyle on the banks of the Thames across from the Houses of Parliament.

Meanwhile, the third shows Tennant sitting in a courtroom alongside Jones.

Filmed last year in locations including London spots such as Kilburn and Muswell Hill, the series is currently in post-production.

Speaking about the shocking real-life events that inspired the show, Thorne said it charted a ‘strange and deceptive piece of our recent history’.

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‘One with so many layers to it. I thought, as someone who is interested in politics, I understood everything that happened. I did not. It’s a fight for the truth that really shocked me,’ he continued.

‘That is why it matters to tell this story now in an age where the truth seems more in danger than ever. It is a true honour to be bringing this story to the screen alongside David, Robert, Toby, Lewis, Patrick, Joe and Abi. I hope we find a way to do justice to the complexity of what happened and of celebrating the incredible reporting that sits underneath it.’

The series also stars Rose Leslie, Dougray Scott, Eve Myles, Adrian Lester, Katherine Kelly and Steve Pemberton.

Davies was the journalist responsible for uncovering the widespread use of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper, which shut down in 2011, while it’s former editor Andy Coulson was sent to prison for 18 months three years later.

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Just last week Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers agreed to pay ‘substantial damages’ and apologised to Prince Harry after a legal battle that saw him claim unlawful intrusion into his life over decades.

Meanwhile private investigator Morgan was murdered in 1987. His business partner Jonathan Reese would go on to work for News of the World.

In 2007 the Met announced Morgan was likely murdered because he was ‘about expose a south London drugs network possibly involving corrupt police officers’.

Cook ran the fifth and final investigation into Morgan’s murder in 2006.

The Hack will air on ITV later this year.

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