David Tennant & Toby Jones Team Up For 'The Hack'

There are two ways to handle the surprise success of a TV limited series. One can simply accept the success, take the awards and accolades, and move on. One can renew the series for a second season and hope the writers have some good ideas on where the characters go next or how to make the show an anthology. Or one can create a spiritual follow-up, a story in the same vein starring some of the same actors as the first series.

For ITV's Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the U.K. production studio has chosen the last option. The series was one of ITV's most successful in the last decade, with ratings for the finale reaching levels not seen since Downton Abbey. The public response to the story was so overwhelming the Prime Minister was forced to open an inquiry. And while the story's not over, the part the producers wanted to tell is finished. So, for the next series, it will take on the still-relevant News of the World hacking scandal in a new limited series, The Hack.

Like Mr. Bates, Americans know little about the News of the World Scandal. However, Rupert Murdoch is a figure in both the U.S. and the U.K.; plus, Prince Harry brought one of the most prominent lawsuits, so it's better known than the Bates tale. However, most of the details, including how Murdoch flooded the zone to obfuscate the truth behind what his company was doing, aren't well known in the U.K., let alone over here. Moreover, with one of the figures, Will Lewis, now in charge of The Washington Post, it's far more relevant in both countries.