voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. i wanted to expose the criminality that runs through the heart of this corporation. they very nearly ruined my life. i have certainly seen how they have ruined the lives of others. it's really difficult for me to sit here and talk about this because... ..the whole point of fighting these newspapers is because i was so keen to have my privacy. i feel a sense of duty... ..to expose them as

they've exposed us. tv reporter: prince harry and sir elton john have - launched legal action against the publishers of the daily mail. action is being taken against the sun newspaper. legal action against i the mirror group over allegations of phone hacking. who did you hack? be quicker to say who i didn't hack, wouldn't it? it would be easier. celebrities, politicians. i was living in this sort of superhighway of illicit information. it was exciting. you felt like a spy. i don't know to this day how many people have heard my deepest secrets, my desires.

but phone hacking was not practised by the mail on sunday or the daily mail. you have just about anybody who's ever appeared - in a tabloid newspaper saying, "give me large wodges- "of cash, please." i think it's actually a legal scandal. i it's not the money i'm after. it's to expose their guilt. it's justice. as long ago as i can remember, all i ever wanted to do was act. that was it. that's my only memory. i've been lucky that i have loved myjob. but the other side of it, which i was completely and utterly unprepared for, was overwhelming. i fell very much in love with my first co—star and got papped with him, and the next day had ten people outside my house.

and that was it. it was from one day to the next. it was not there, and then it was very much there. tv reporter: ever since jude got together with sienna - on the set of alfie, they have been a real golden couple. we talked before about the paparazzi. how are you coping? because you seem to be followed... not very well. it's a little invasive. i think it's a little unhealthy. but i suppose you make your bed and you have to lie in it. i mean, theirargument is that you're public property now. how do you feel about that? i think there's a level where you become public property. but if you're a girl being chased down the street by five men in the middle of the night, that should not be legal. watch your backs. it was the wild west in the �*90s. i mean, �*905 and early 20005. so it was completely crazy, the amount of stories that were coming out. and the amount of accurate stories that were appearing in the press was baffling.

we would make a plan, between my partner and i, to meet somewhere, and when we got there, there would be press, which would be astounding and impossible. of course, the initial reaction is that somebody is leaking information, and somebody close to us. people that i love, and still love dearly, i did suspect and distance from, and also tried to plant stories or tell them information that wasn't true to see if it came out. now, sienna was very much of interest to all the tabloids because she was involved with the actorjude law. we've seen listed in court documents that on 21july 2005, the sun... paid £250 for "sienna. . . phone. .. "inquiries."

which we say is a clear reference to unlawful information gathering. and that payment was authorised by the news editor. so notjust a reporter in the showbiz department, but the news editor, who reported directly to the editor. the attention on my private life was so loud that i was just desperate to be seen as an actor. and somebody approached me with the idea of being in as you like it in the west end, and shakespeare in the west end felt like an opportunity to not only do a play, which was a dream, but to show that i was serious, that i was... you know, i was doing this because i loved what i did. i had found out on a saturday night that there was a story coming out on the sunday about an affair that my partner had had. the person had sold a story. so i was...in a state of shock.

0n the monday, i went to the theatre and it was carnage. it was chaos. there must have been 60 photographers outside. and i was really extremely vulnerable and heartbroken. but then on the tuesday, i found out that i was pregnant. so that was the trajectory of those three days. nobody knew that she was pregnant. only very close friends. it was. . . it was awful. it was, honestly, terrible. and then, of course, press knowing where i would be eight times a week meant that i had no opportunity to disappear or hide. i can't even remember anything, otherthan... ..ijust...| hadajob to do and i had several decisions to make. and i...was really frightened. i remember that.

but...yeah. around this time, we believe that nick parker, the foreign correspondent of the sun, met with a medical records blagger... ..in order to confirm whether sienna miller was pregnant. we say they'd been given a tip that she was. he was meeting with somebody who was a blagger, who was able to obtain medical records to try and stand up that tip. it was done over the phone by blagging the, say, for example, a secretary in a gp�*s surgery, by pretending to be an employee of the hospital, asking for somebody�*s records to be sent, or asking for details from theirfile. and that way you would get all kinds of private medical information. and that was highly prized. it cost a lot of money, and there were very few people who could do it. but the newspapers did have specialist blaggers who could

obtain that information. i remember my doctor's office phoning me and saying, "we sent the records that you'd asked for." and...and me saying, "i didn't ask for any records." parker met with a blagger, and there is a payment of...£950... ..to the blaggerfor "sienns" — and that's a typo — "miller. . . pregnant. .. research." now, £950...is a lot of money, and in newspaper terms was a lot of money. you didn't pay £950 unless you got something useful for that information. the claimants alleged that sienna's publicist, ciara parkes, was called by rebekah brooks, the editor of the sun.

i've known rebekah for over 30 years, and she and i had been friends for a long time, so i was very surprised to get that call from her to say that she was aware that sienna was pregnant. she didn't explain how she knew, but i asked her, given the sensitivity of the matter, and sienna was very early on in her pregnancy and going through a lot of turmoil, not to publish the story. and she agreed that she wouldn't publish it. i suppose i wasn't comforted by the fact that she wouldn't run it because i was just horrified about how she might have known. i felt somebody must be selling stories, and i sat down the five people in our lives who knew and interrogated them violently. you know, i was under such intense pressure and said, "it has to be one of you. so who is it?"

and lots of tears and denials. i tried to feel relieved that it was... that she had given us her word. but i also, by that point, understood the nature of the beast and that it was probably only a matter of time. so the clock was ticking. so what happened next? the sun actually didn't run this story, despite apparently having the confirmation of sienna's pregnancy. the story appeared in an american publication called the star. we can speculate how it ended up in an american publication. there's an age—old thing that when something had been published abroad, then the gloves are off and the british press were allowed to also report it. eventually a story did appear in the sun, asking the question, "sienna's pregnant. is that a fact?" reporting a celebrity on a tv show saying that.

it's just horrible to have to talk about it. sorry, but ijust... yeah, i remember. ijust think i sort of wailed and, like... and that was sort of it. it was like...0h, god. it's so long ago, but it was... ijust rememberfeeling like if that had been taken as well, it was like, "that's it, you know, i can't do this. "i can't go ahead with this." i also felt so conscious of. . .yeah. sighs the decisions that she had to make were horrendous. no—one should be in that position. but then to have to make them publicly, because it was completely obvious as to whether she would or wouldn't be having a child, wasjust an appalling situation to be in. and the fact that...that...

..that decision should have been hers and it should have been kept private, no—one could argue with that. but she wasn't afforded that. newspapers were so powerful at that time. so every tube or every bus or every... you know, your photo and that headline is there. and then making the decision to have an abortion on a sunday, to be back onstage on a monday, at which point i don't think i remember six weeks of my life. actually don't remember. i think i was in such a deep state of trauma by that point that i...i...i totally blacked out.

i still dojournalism. i do journalism that has real impact. i've ended up kind of working in press reform. i am the creator of a public interestjournalism database which essentially unpacks, in great forensic detail, the crimes that went on at news group and mirror group newspapers. it's sort of like a poacher turned gamekeeper. i definitely think that the policy decision was made from the very top of these news organisations to mine celebrity culture.

if there was a tv show that was particularly popular, then that would become a focus of interest. that extended to big brother. indistinct chatter oh, god. i'm so fed up... so if you went on the big brother tv show, then you were more or less saying to the editors of national titles, "come and get me." millions of people tuned in to watch it. it was massive in the press. it was the show to be on. cheering the night that i got evicted, i wasjust so surprised with the amount of people who were there, the amount of cheers that i had. the worst part for me was seeing all the stories that had been written about me.

i wasjust mortified by a lot of them. imogen would have been a very natural target for the news editors. they would have just looked at her and gone, "0k, here's an attractive person. "it's a former miss wales. "so, a, there must be photos of her looking good out there." there was a big moneymaking exercise going on, on both sides, actually. so imogen would immediately have been kind of targeted by an agent who would have been pushing every aspect of their private life to the papers, because at that time there was a great accent on kiss—and—tells, this sort of thing. and this is where that line between what you choose to sell and what's been stolen from you becomes very, very fluid. so when i left the house, i'd have a few dates with a few other celebs. you'd get paid thousands of pounds just to even say the smallest amount of detail. and my manager thought it was, you know, easy money. "why not, imogen? it's tomorrow's chip paper." i'd done about two

kiss—and—tells, and... that i deeply regretted. so after those couple of times, i was like, "i do not want to do this again." and my love life was always private. so once you became a person of interest, then you would just be revisited on a regular basis. so every couple of months, somebody, somewhere would have another look at imogen thomas and go, "oh, who are they speaking to at the moment?" in 2011, a journalist from the sun newspaper turned up on my doorstep and said that they had details of me having an affair with, um... ..a married footballer. the fact that the sun newspaper had so much details of this affair, it was worrying. it was really worrying, actually. then the next day, it was in the newspaper, and that is when my

life changed. it was a horrible time. i was the most hated woman in britain because, you know, the papers just wanted to sell and sell and sell. for me, it was, like, impossible. the only people who knew about what was going on in my personal life at that time was my mum and my sister. it was basically just stamping into people's most private lives, yeah, without any thought for the human... ..the human impact. it was done ostensibly for the profit of a large corporation. my mental health was in a bad way. i would leave so many voicemails for my mum. and, yeah, i think they would all have been listened into.

in 2019, imogen thomas and sienna miller launched claims against news group — owners of the news of the world and the sun. as with most previous claimants, news group paid undisclosed sums to settle the claims before a trial. it was not my choice to be standing here today. i wanted to go to trial. i wanted to share news group's secrets, just as they have shared mine. unfortunately, that legal recourse is not available to me or to anyone who does not have countless millions of pounds to spend on the pursuit ofjustice. under english law, if a claimant refuses a settlement and is then awarded a lower amount by a judge at trial, they risk having to pay

the legal fees from the trial for both sides. this could amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds. between 2016 and 2022, news group and mirror group paid money to settle hundreds of claims against their newspapers before they got to trial. morning. um... i'm just going to read a brief—ish statement. today, mgn ltd, part of the trinity mirror group, settled my case by apologising for hacking my phone, and is paying me a sum in damages which they have insisted i keep confidential. were it not for the mirror's threat to seek their costs if i continued with my case, i would have sought to scrutinise these activities further and get to the bottom of the extensive cover—up which i believe took place. when i said to the mirror, "i want to go to court," they would say, "here's some money." and i'd write back to them,

through my lawyer, "i don't want money. i just want to go to court." "oh, this is ridiculous. go away. "here's some more money." "why are you offering me more? i'm not asking for money. "i just want to go to court to hear the truth." "oh, this is ridiculous. go away. "here's some more money." and they kept going up and up and up, offering me more and more money till it got to the stage where — it sounds like, it is very much a first—world problem — it's like, if i didn't accept their offer and then went to court and the judge decided on an offer that was less than that, i would have been liable for all the costs, and that could bankrupt me — quite easily. i fear that many other victims of press misconduct are too afraid to fight for their rights because of aggressive newspaper legal teams and our expensive legal system. that's the key. . .strategy that a lot of these newspapers employ to stop these cases coming to court, where they would be subject to real scrutiny.

i think it's important to recognise that there are two separate things. there is a criminal investigation into phone hacking. and there is civil proceedings... ..about phone hacking. the criminal investigation into phone hacking ended years ago. and what you have is now an industry whereby anybody who thinks they've got any kind of excuse is trying to get civil damages. the main newspaper groups are caught between a rock and a hard place. you spend £1 million on fighting that case, if you can settle it for £100,000? i'm afraid it's a no—brainer. it is cheaper to settle than to fight for the truth. we're waiting for the one person with the money and the resolve to take this

all the way to trial, the person who goes, "i don't care if i risk losing £3 or £4 million on this. "i don't care what they chuck at me "in disclosure or in the courtroom. "i am willing to take that on myself because, "for me, the moral victory is more important "than the financial victory. " good evening. buckingham palace has said that prince harry has begun legal action against the owners of the sun, the now defunct news of the world and the daily mirror in relation to alleged phone hacking. tv reporter: all smiles at l the end of a high-profile tour. but in the works, i a legal bombshell. harry is suing two of l the biggest newspaper groups in britain. the case — allegations- of harry's calls being hacked in the early 2000s. prince harry is pursuing legal action against an extraordinary number of uk publishers.

i mean, the sentence i've just uttered is pretty extraordinary. we're talking about the king's son taking on much of the british press. what he, at considerable personal cost, is pursuing are cases where he believes that this press has acted on illegal information. from his telling, he has known no other life which hasn't involved some form of alleged activity by elements of the media in order to find out what he was up to. this has completely tainted his experience of life and been there all the way through from when he and william were young boys. i remember sitting down with rebekah brooks about the royaljob. she said she was sick of the royal coverage of the sun simply being a funny

face that prince charles had pulled when he stepped on a cowpat, visiting an organic yoghurt factory. she didn't want that any more. it was time for the focus to really be on the next generation, on william and on harry. and, frankly, the newspaper needed someone that wasn't tainted by diana's death. they wanted someone younger. i fitted the bill. i was into things that they were into. i wasn't that much older than them. it was a high—pressure job with some fantastic rewards. i mean, who wouldn't want to get drunk with prince harry and prince william, at the same time, in the same nightclub? chanting: we love you, harry, we do! | the image people have of harry, the party prince, comes from that period. oi. do ou want to �* harry! he was charging around the world, partying like a maniac. he even admits that he was, in that period. he had been seen punching a cameraman, and the bodyguard

lifting him off the street. and it got to the point where once we got the nazi story, the gloves were off. prince harry would often go to social events which weren't official events, meeting people in the pub, for example, and members of the press would already be there. he had absolutely no idea how these people knew. he thought it was probably leaks from his close friends or people from the palace, or perhaps even a girlfriend. his circle of friends decreased drastically because of his paranoia. he was very guarded about who he could speak to and trust, etc. and that's a huge thing for somebody going through their adolescence at the time. there's virtually a story about him every single day.

hello. there are signs that

the weather might warm up a bit next week, but not just yet. we stay in the rather chilly air for friday, a mix of sunny spells and showers and, actually, across the south of the uk, a frontal system that will bring more in the way of cloud and some splashes of rain. low pressure generally in charge of the scene through the day ahead. so, after a cold start, most places will see some spells of sunshine and a scattering of showers. some wintriness in the showers over high ground in scotland. but that frontal system will bring cloud and rain across the channel islands and across southern counties of england. temperature—wise, well, about where we have been over the last few days, north to south looking at values between 8—13 degrees. now, as we head through friday night, we'll see this band of rain in the south pushing its way further northwards. a lot of cloud with that, too. that will hold the temperatures up to some extent, but northern england, northern ireland and scotland holding on to some clear spells and it will get chilly again. we'll have a frost to start saturday morning, not as cold

further south thanks to that extra cloud, those outbreaks of rain, which will be moving northwards as the day wears on. as the rain clears, it may brighten up a little bit towards the south coast but that could allow some sharp showers to break out. for northern ireland and scotland, it's a mixture of sunny spells and showers once again through the day. and those temperatures, well, maybe just creeping up a little bit in some areas, highs between 9—11i degrees. into the second half of the weekend, we see this area of low pressure drifting northwards. that's going to bring outbreaks of rain for some, especially across the eastern side of the uk. but it may well be that some of this rain comes a little bit further westwards, affecting quite large parts of england and wales, maybe clipping into eastern scotland. the further west you are, though, it's that mix of sunny spells and showers. some of the showers will be on the heavy side. temperatures between 9—12, maybe 13 degrees in the south—west. but as we head into next week, it does look like things will slowly but surely warm up.

we start to bring a feed of winds from the near continent. these orange colours on our air mass chart. temperatures are set to climb, perhaps up to 19 or 20 degrees celsius through the middle part of the week. but that doesn't mean sunshine all the way, still unsettled with some rain at times.

live from washington, this is bbc news. antony blinken is in china in a bid to reduce tensions between the two countries. an appeals court overturns the rape description of disgraced former hollywood producer harvey weinstein, ordering a new trial. humanitarian groups warn of worsening conditions inside gaza as the us military begins construction of a temporary pier to boost aid deliveries. hello. i'm carl nasman. us secretary of state antony blinken is meeting china's foreign minister in beijing as part of a trip aimed at reducing tensions between the two countries. blinken and wang yi are expected to discuss taiwan, russia's invasion of ukraine and restoring connections between the us and chinese militaries. on thursday, blinken spoke

about the importance of direct