The Trick: Is the BBC One drama based on a true story?

Jason Watkins heads up the cast on BBC One (Picture: BBC/Vox Pictures)

There’s a brand new drama for telly fans to keep an eye out for tonight, with The Trick airing on our screens. 

Jason Watkins leads the cast of the TV film, which is set in the world of climate change academia and features a host of celebrated British talent.

‘With time running out against an unseen enemy, The Trick 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 official BBC synopsis reads.

It continues: ‘The film also charts the unjustified persecution of Phil Jones, his wife Ruth’s support of her husband and the fight for the ultimate exoneration of himself and the science.’

George Mackay, Victoria Hamilton, Amber Rose Revah, Jerome Flynn, Rhashan Stone and Adrian Edmondson also appear in the film.

But is it based on a true story? Here’s everything you need to know.

Is The Trick drama based on a true story?

George Mackay and Jerome Flynn in The Trick (Picture: BBC)

The real-life drama tells the true story of Phil Jones (played by Jason), who headed up the University of East Anglia’s world renowned climate research unit, and his wife Ruth (Victoria Hamilton). 

Their lives became the focus of a media scandal in 2009, when Phil was targeted in a cyberterrorist attack co-ordinated by climate change deniers that saw thousands of emails stolen.

More: BBC

The media scandal took place shortly before the Copenhagen climate talk summit in 2009, with a number of emails which seemed to suggest the scientists had exaggerated the threat of climate change leaked to the press. 

While no exaggeration had taken place at all, it was widely reported around the world and made front page news. The TV film explores the implications of ‘climategate’ and the fallout for those involved.

The Trick airs on Monday at 8.30pm on BBC One.

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