The Trick

The Trick — new thriller stars Jason Watkins and Victoria Hamilton

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BBC One announces The Trick, a landmark film that tells the real life story of the ‘Climategate Scandal’ from 2009

Produced by Vox Pictures, the team behind the critically acclaimed Keeping Faith, and written by Bafta-nominated Owen Sheers (The Snow Spider, Aberfan: The Green Hollow) The Trick tells the story of world-renowned Professor Philip Jones; Director of Climate Research at the University of East Anglia, who back in 2009 found himself at the eye of an international media storm and the victim of cyberterrorism.

With time running out, it looks at the potentially devastating consequences to humanity from climate change denial; how a media storm undermined public confidence in the science and how the concept of ‘truth’ took a back seat causing us to lose a decade of action. The film also charts the unjustified persecution of Phil Jones, his wife Ruth’s fierce support of her husband and the fight for the ultimate exoneration of himself and the science.

The powerful single drama will star an ensemble cast including Jason Watkins (Line of Duty, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies) as respected scientist Professor Phil Jones and Victoria Hamilton (Doctor Foster, Life) as Phil’s wife, Ruth.

The cast also includes George MacKay (1917, Pride), Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street), Adrian Edmondson (The Pact, Save Me), Aneirin Hughes (Hinterland, Keeping Faith), Pooky Quesnel (The A Word, The Victim), Richard Elfyn (The Pact), Rhashan Stone (Keeping Faith, Finding Alice), Justin Salinger (Hanna), Tara Divina (Line of Duty) and David Calder (Time, The Hatton Garden Job).

Filming takes place in London, Cardiff and Norfolk. We don’t yet know when this might reach our screens. For more details (including comments from those involved) see the BBC announcement.