Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria Hamilton respectively), whose lives are rocked when Phil\u2019s work on climate change becomes the focus of a media scandal.<\/p>\n
Read on to learn more about the real-life story of the Climategate affair, and the true history behind The Trick.<\/p>\n
Who is Professor Philip Jones?<\/strong><\/h2>\nPhilip \u2018Phil\u2019 Jones is a world-renowned scientist specialising in climate change. He is the former\u00a0Director of Climatic Research at the University of East Anglia, the post he held prior to \u2018Climategate\u2019, when he was targeted in a co-ordinated hack that saw thousands of emails stolen and used by climate change deniers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still unknown who was behind the hack.<\/p>\n
In The Trick, Phil (played by Jason Watkins) contemplates death by suicide after becoming a victim of cyberterrorism and seeing his life\u2019s work discredited in news reports across the globe.<\/p>\n
![\""Programme\"]( "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\nSpeaking to The Observer, Jones said of that period:\u00a0\u201cAt the time, the mail was awful. Everyone was attacking me and I couldn\u2019t deal with it. I got Christmas cards filled with obscenities and, to this day \u2013 on the November anniversary of the hacking \u2013 I still get a couple of offensive messages.\u201d He added:\u00a0\u201cAfter The Trick is screened I expect there will be a new wave of abuse. However, I accept the risk because this is a story that needs to be told.\u201d<\/p>\n
On being played by Jason Watkins, he said: \u201cI only had one Zoom meeting with Jason but he picked up all sorts of mannerisms and quirks that I didn\u2019t realise I had \u2013 like folding my arms in front of myself when I am talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was the \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair?<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair<\/a> of 2009 took place in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate talk summit in December of that year.<\/p>\nIn 2009, the University of East Anglia\u2019s climate research team were hacked, with thousands of emails and related documents stolen. A small number of emails that seemed to suggest the scientists had exaggerated the threat of climate change were later published by climate change deniers.<\/p>
The scientists, including Phil Jones, had not exaggerated the threat after all, but the scandal still made headlines around the world \u2013 in The Trick, we see real-life news footage reporting on \u2018Climategate\u2019, from the likes of The Guardian and the BBC to NBC and Fox News across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith time running out against an unseen enemy, The Trick looks at the potentially devastating consequences to humanity from climate change denial \u2013\u00a0how a media storm undermined public confidence in the science and how the concept of \u2018truth\u2019 took a back seat causing us to lose a decade of action,\u201d reads the official BBC synopsis.<\/p>\n
It continues: \u201cThe film also charts the unjustified persecution of Phil Jones, his wife Ruth\u2019s support of her husband and the fight for the ultimate exoneration of himself and the science.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trick airs on BBC One on Monday 18th October. Visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight,\u00a0or check out the rest of our Drama<\/a> coverage.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5873,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\""Programme\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/22914719-high_res-the-trick-e79469d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\nSpeaking to The Observer, Jones said of that period:\u00a0\u201cAt the time, the mail was awful. Everyone was attacking me and I couldn\u2019t deal with it. I got Christmas cards filled with obscenities and, to this day \u2013 on the November anniversary of the hacking \u2013 I still get a couple of offensive messages.\u201d He added:\u00a0\u201cAfter The Trick is screened I expect there will be a new wave of abuse. However, I accept the risk because this is a story that needs to be told.\u201d<\/p>\n
On being played by Jason Watkins, he said: \u201cI only had one Zoom meeting with Jason but he picked up all sorts of mannerisms and quirks that I didn\u2019t realise I had \u2013 like folding my arms in front of myself when I am talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was the \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair?<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair<\/a> of 2009 took place in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate talk summit in December of that year.<\/p>\nIn 2009, the University of East Anglia\u2019s climate research team were hacked, with thousands of emails and related documents stolen. A small number of emails that seemed to suggest the scientists had exaggerated the threat of climate change were later published by climate change deniers.<\/p>
The scientists, including Phil Jones, had not exaggerated the threat after all, but the scandal still made headlines around the world \u2013 in The Trick, we see real-life news footage reporting on \u2018Climategate\u2019, from the likes of The Guardian and the BBC to NBC and Fox News across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith time running out against an unseen enemy, The Trick looks at the potentially devastating consequences to humanity from climate change denial \u2013\u00a0how a media storm undermined public confidence in the science and how the concept of \u2018truth\u2019 took a back seat causing us to lose a decade of action,\u201d reads the official BBC synopsis.<\/p>\n
It continues: \u201cThe film also charts the unjustified persecution of Phil Jones, his wife Ruth\u2019s support of her husband and the fight for the ultimate exoneration of himself and the science.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trick airs on BBC One on Monday 18th October. Visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight,\u00a0or check out the rest of our Drama<\/a> coverage.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5873,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
In 2009, the University of East Anglia\u2019s climate research team were hacked, with thousands of emails and related documents stolen. A small number of emails that seemed to suggest the scientists had exaggerated the threat of climate change were later published by climate change deniers.<\/p>
The scientists, including Phil Jones, had not exaggerated the threat after all, but the scandal still made headlines around the world \u2013 in The Trick, we see real-life news footage reporting on \u2018Climategate\u2019, from the likes of The Guardian and the BBC to NBC and Fox News across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith time running out against an unseen enemy, The Trick looks at the potentially devastating consequences to humanity from climate change denial \u2013\u00a0how a media storm undermined public confidence in the science and how the concept of \u2018truth\u2019 took a back seat causing us to lose a decade of action,\u201d reads the official BBC synopsis.<\/p>\n
It continues: \u201cThe film also charts the unjustified persecution of Phil Jones, his wife Ruth\u2019s support of her husband and the fight for the ultimate exoneration of himself and the science.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trick airs on BBC One on Monday 18th October. Visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight,\u00a0or check out the rest of our Drama<\/a> coverage.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5873,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/true-story-behind-bbc-one-climategate-drama-the-trick-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Flora Carr Published: Monday, 18 October 2021 at 12:00 am Jason Watkins stars in BBC One\u2019s one-off drama, The Trick, a fact-based feature that tells the human story behind the real-life \u2018Climategate\u2019 affair. Set in the late Noughties, the drama focuses on Phil Jones and his wife Ruth (played by Jason Watkins and Victoria…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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