ITV has announced a powerful new true crime drama for its upcoming slate, with ‘Believe Me‘ set to delve into the horrifying case of serial sex offender John Worboys. The four-part series comes from BAFTA and RTS award-winning screenwriter Jeff Pope (A Confession, Little Boy Blue) and his production label Etta Pictures, part of ITV Studios.
‘Believe Me’ centres on the real-life stories of three women who were victims of Worboys, known by the media as the “black cab rapist”, and their tireless pursuit of justice in the face of devastating police failure.
Leading the cast are Aimée-Ffion Edwards (Slow Horses, Peaky Blinders), Miriam Petche (Industry), and Aasiya Shah (Raised by Wolves, Bloods), playing the women who were drugged and sexually assaulted by Worboys after being picked up in his taxi. Daniel Mays (Des, The Long Shadow) stars as Worboys himself.
Filming is taking place in Cardiff, supported by the Welsh Government through Creative Wales.
The case shocked the nation in 2009, when Worboys was convicted of sexually assaulting twelve women between 2006 and 2008. These convictions were selected from a much larger number of suspected cases. His disturbing method involved claiming he had won at a casino or on the lottery, then offering women he picked up after a night out a glass of champagne laced with drugs.
The drama focuses on two of the women who initially reported their assaults and how the Metropolitan Police failed to take their claims seriously. This failure allowed Worboys to continue his attacks for years. After the trial, over 100 women came forward with further allegations.
Refusing to be silenced, the two women teamed up with solicitor Harriet Wistrich and Phillippa Kaufmann QC to sue the Met Police under the Human Rights Act. Their claim argued that the force’s failure to investigate their reports properly amounted to degrading treatment and added to their trauma.
With Worboys’ first parole hearing approaching, the women were forced to fight again, this time to stop him from being released just eight years after his conviction.
Jeff Pope commented:
“The series goes on an emotional journey with the victims of Worboys’ attacks, showing what happened to them when they reported being raped and assaulted, the pain and indignity of the process and how this de-humanised them. But most shocking of all is how they felt that not being believed by the police and having the attacks recorded, essentially, as non-crimes, was as traumatising for them as the actual assaults.”
The series is directed by Julia Ford (Showtrial, Until I Kill You) and produced by Catrin Lewis Defis (The Winter King, Hollington Drive), with Pope executive producing alongside Saurabh Kakkar.
Polly Hill, ITV’s Head of Drama, added:
“We are really proud to be working with Jeff Pope to bring this important story to screen. For too long the women were not heard by the police, resulting in more victims and ultimately resulting in a landmark case brought against the Met. Jeff’s scripts as always are brilliant in bringing this difficult but important story to screen and I am delighted that Julia Ford will be directing the piece.”
‘Believe Me‘ will air on ITV1 and STV, and be available to stream via ITVX and STV Player. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
Photo credits: Aimée-Ffion Edwards – Phil Sharp, Miriam Petche – Craig Gibson, Aasiya Shah – Phil Sharp, Daniel Mays – Will Thompson. Photos supplied by ITV.
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