David Tennant's The Hack 'is this year's Mr Bates vs The Post Office', says ITV boss

In addition to covering the events leading up to the phone hacking scandal, The Hack will also crack open the case of murdered private investigator Daniel Morgan, which remains unsolved to this day.

Ruth Berry, ITV Studios' head of global distribution, told Variety: "One of the things I love about my job is that we're bringing new stories to the world, world firsts. We're educating. We are entertaining.

"But having a voice in natural history or other issues makes you realise why what we do is so important. Mr Bates vs The Post Office was the perfect example of that last year, The Hack this."

The executive was speaking ahead of an event at London's Odeon Leicester Square, in which international distributors will get an exclusive look at the ITV programmes up for grabs in the months ahead.

Berry went on to discuss TV market trends, including a "shift" in the target audience of shows like The Hack and Cold Water; the latter being a psychological thriller starring The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln.

"Whereas five years ago, drama was largely focused on 55-plus females, there is now an increasing amount of conversation which is 55-and-under, regarding more multigenerational, younger skewing of male and female-skewed content," said Berry. "That's a shift."

She continued: "Cold Water and The Hack are still going to have slightly older audiences but they're targeted at a much broader audience, broadening that funnel out more into a wider appeal for everybody."

On the perceived lack of risk among current TV commissioning – with crime thrillers comprising a disproportionate amount of orders – Berry attempted a more optimistic spin on the data.

"I think the word 'crime drama' or 'thriller' is a really wide catch-all. What you end up with here is really different dramas which will grip different audiences in different ways," suggested Berry.

An important element, however, is the recruitment of big-name stars like Tennant and Lincoln, which she adds is important to help a programme "cut through" and "elevate" it in the competitive TV schedules.

The Hack is coming soon to ITV1 and ITVX.

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