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. 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 six seasons from 2011 to 2016. In 2013, following Iain Stirling's departure from CBBC, he and Dodge began presenting with
Chris Johnson. The character took a hiatus from
CBBC in April 2014 to film Series 4 of
Hacker Time. 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. 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. Hacker is very fond of television presenter
Sue Barker and mentions her often. In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the
Wimbledon Championship. Hacker is known for saying 'cockers' – a
Northern term for 'mate'. ==In other media==