It’s sad that Hugh Grant v Rupert Murdoch won’t go to court, but good can come of it

‘Grant’s flinch at a cost of continuing he put at £10m is understandable. Yet it means the public won’t hear evidence of hacking, burglary and bugging.’ Photograph: James Manning/PA

True crime dramas, in which nobody wins but the lawyers, are not the kind of films that made Hugh Grant famous. His starring role in the long-running legal action against the Sun newspaper for phone hacking instead proves that real life is far more flawed and frustrating than film.

After more than a decade of leading a campaign against what he called the “worst excesses of the oligarch-owned press”, Grant settled with Rupert Murdoch when offered such an “enormous” sum of money that to proceed would have seen him liable for even bigger costs.