Billie Piper To Star In Phone-Hacking Play

Billie Piper will star in a new play at the National Theatre inspired by the phone-hacking scandal.

Great Britain, which premieres on Monday, is fictional but based around the relationship between the press, politicians and police.

Sir Nicholas Hytner who is directing the play says it does not touch on anything which could prejudice the jury in the hacking trial, however lawyers advised them not to put the production on until Monday.

The play was written by Richard Bean, who was behind the award-winning hit One Man, Two Guvnors. He has admitted he could only write when angry with "no one coming out of it well".

Ms Piper will play Paige Britain, the ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.

Sir Nicholas insisted her character was not based on Rebekah Brooks, the former Chief Executive of News International, who was cleared of phone hacking charges on Tuesday.

But he conceded Richard Bean was inspired by what he saw as "an unhealthy network of relationships at the top of society between press, police and politicians".

Great Britain opens at the Lyttelton Theatre on Monday 30th June.