EXCLUSIVE: It was described by US authorities as the “biggest military hack of all time”, and now the BBC is making a feature-length drama about the man behind the keyboard.
The BBC has given the green light to The People v Gary McKinnon, which will tell the story of a Scottish hacker who broke into NASA and Pentagon military systems but avoided extradition to the US.
The 90-minute single will be produced by Wall to Wall and is based on a script by Peter Harness, a writer who has worked on Doctor Who and Wallander. Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan is expected to be attached to direct.
The Guardian reported that the project was a feature film, but Deadline understands that the BBC has commissioned the one-off drama for TV. Production will begin next spring and casting will take place over the next few months. The BBC declined to comment.
In 2001, McKinnon gained access to US military systems in a search for information about UFOs from his London apartment. He was arrested a year later and, with the support of his mother Janis Sharp, fought extradition for a decade. They were successful in 2012 on the basis that McKinnon, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, could pose a risk to his own life.
He was able to hack NASA and the Pentagon after realizing that they were using the Windows operating system. He left messages for US authorities, including one that read: “Your security system sucks.”
Now 57, McKinnon lives in Leicester and runs a small search engine optimization company, according to The Guardian. The People v Gary McKinnon is based on Sharp’s book Saving Gary McKinnon: A Mother’s Story.
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