BBC One’s new feature-length drama The Trick is set in 2009, well over a decade ago, but the events addressed remain eerily timely. A cautionary tale, the show revisits the ‘Climategate’ affair, just in time for the run-up to this year’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. 

For those who don’t remember ‘Climategate,’ it, too, took place just before key climate talks, in Copenhagen. Hackers stole thousands of emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, focussing on a tiny number that seemed to suggest that scientists had manipulated data in order to exaggerate the apparent threat of climate change. They had not, as it later turned out, but the scandal still made headlines across the globe, and (it’s been suggested) may have contributed to the failure of the Copenhagen talks that December. 

In the eye of the storm was one man, Professor Phil Jones (played with great sympathy by Jason Watkins), who headed up the climate research unit before falling victim to cyberterrorism. He was sent death threats in the wake of the hack, and had suicidal thoughts on several occasions. The drama doesn’t go in-depth into the nitty-gritty science, instead focussing on the devastating human impact the scandal wreaked on both Phil and his wife, Ruth (Victoria Hamilton). 

The world’s media wants to talk to Phil, but he’s “broken” by Climategate, unable to form sentences and constantly on the verge of tears. He’s portrayed as an introverted scientist bogged down in jargon, and not a natural orator. But he cares, deeply, about how the spread of disinformation is undermining decades of his own, vital work. 

A touching subplot follows George MacKay’s character, Sam Bowen, a PR strategist tasked with helping Phil tell his side of the story. A father of two young girls, Sam’s anxiety about the world he’s leaving for his daughters is paralleled with Phil’s own worries about climate change’s future impact on his granddaughter, Lily. 

Hidden in this cautionary tale, there’s also a love story: Phil and Ruth’s. There are numerous tear-jerking scenes, in particular Ruth’s reaction when Phil returns from a moonlit beach walk, sodden wet, after wading into the sea and contemplating death by suicide. She remains his rock throughout.

‘Climategate’ itself may have been about facts and figures, but The Trick’s, well, trick is honing in on the people it affected – and on the billions of people who will be impacted by the climate crisis in the years to come.

The Trick airs on BBC One on Monday 18th October. Visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight, or check out the rest of our Drama coverage.