Hacker T Dog

Hacker was introduced as a character in the CBBC television programme Scoop, performed by Andy Heath. Hacker is the unintelligible non-spoken sidekick of Digby Digworth, as the two attempt to try and find a news scoop but chaos ensues along the way.

After the character became popular, Hacker was added as a weekday presenter at the CBBC office in May 2009, with the puppetry and voice now being performed by Phil Fletcher. Hacker from that point gained a much more noticeable characteristic, having a much more comedic and sarcastic personality and he now spoke in full words. These characteristics were added to the character within the second and third seasons of Scoop as well. In July, he began presenting on weekdays with Scottish comedian Iain Stirling.^[7]

In 2010, Hacker's "half-brother" Dodge T Dog joined the presenting team on CBBC, while Hacker went off to film the second series of Scoop.

In 2011, Hacker was given a solo presenting role on a separate chat show titled Hacker Time, where he interviews television personalities and other CBBC stars. The series lasted five seasons from 2011-2016.^[8]

In 2013, following Ian Stirling's departure from CBBC, he and Dodge began presenting with Chris Johnson.^[9]

The character took a hiatus from CBBC in April 2014. During his absence, numerous guest presenters filled in for him during his usual weekday afternoon slot. Hacker returned temporarily on 24 May 2014, before making a permanent return on 18 June 2014.

A 2016 clip in which Hacker deadpans to host Lauren Layfield "We're just normal men... We're just innocent men", prompting Layfield to break character and laugh while Hacker continues to deadpan, resurfaced in 2022 and went viral.^[10][11][12] While some assumed the clip had context before the exchange, Fletcher later explained that there was none, and he just ad-libbed the line to make Layfield laugh.^[11]

Hacker is very fond of television presenter Sue Barker and mentions her often.^[13][14] In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Hacker is known for saying ‘cockers’ - a Northern term for ‘mate’.^[19]

Hacker, Barry Davies and Amberley Lobo provided CBBC commentary on the Russia v Belgium match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Hacker appeared on an episode of Celebrity Mastermind in December 2016, his specialist subject being the Pet Shop Boys. He came in second place, losing to television chef Paul Rankin.^[20]

A Hacker T Dog plush puppet was released in 2015 and made by Kidz Kreations, and sold in Argos and The Entertainer.^{[citation needed]}

Hacker gained an official Twitter account in 2014, which as of March 2021 has over 42,000 followers. An Instagram account was eventually created in April 2019, followed by an official YouTube channel. These social media channels are run by both Phil Fletcher and the BBC social media team.

The character has appeared in the following roles:

• Scoop
• Hacker Time
• Andy Heath (puppeteer)
• Phil Fletcher
• Warrick Brownlow-Pike
• Sue Barker
• List of CBBC presenters

• Hacker T Dog on X
• Hacker T Dog on Instagram
• Hacker T Dog's channel on YouTube