ITV has commissioned a brand-new six-part crime drama, ‘Protect and Serve‘ (working title), starring Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, The Red King) as a formidable Leeds detective who finds herself investigating a murder that exposes a much wider national scandal surrounding Britain’s unregulated children’s care homes.
Created by Andoh alongside acclaimed screenwriter Helen Black (Joan, Time II, The Wives), the series promises a police drama with plenty of heart, dark humour and something important to say about the people society is supposed to protect.
At the centre of the story is Detective Inspector Araba Dadzie, a fiercely determined investigator working on a Homicide and Major Enquiry Team in Leeds. She’s a highly respected officer who has fought hard to rise through the ranks as a Black woman in the police force, but maintaining that position has come at considerable personal cost.
Araba is also a mother and a daughter, caught in that familiar squeezed middle of trying to balance a demanding career, an ageing father, a student daughter and a personal life that’s not exactly thriving. Unfortunately, murder investigations aren’t known for respecting anyone’s work-life balance.
The case at the heart of ‘Protect and Serve’ begins with the tragic shooting of a teenage boy who has been living in a privately owned children’s care home alongside his brother since their grandfather fell ill.
Determined to discover why the boy was targeted, Araba and her murder squad begin piecing together his life inside the care home. What starts as a murder investigation draws them into the troubling world of Britain’s unregulated children’s care homes, exposing questions about the treatment of vulnerable young people and those profiting from the system.
Araba’s reputation as a fearsome investigator has been built on relentless determination, a bleak sense of humour and an uncompromising desire to hold those abusing their power to account. It’s an approach that makes her very good at her job, even if it doesn’t always make her life particularly easy.
Speaking about the character, Andoh said:
“How does a woman juggle an aging father, a chippy student daughter and a non-existent sex life, while investigating murders as a black female cop. That’s the lot of DI Araba Dadzie, Senior Investigation Officer on a Homicide and Major Enquiry Team in central Leeds. It’s a job that costs, a job that we the public need, and in spite of the challenges, it’s a job Araba feels called to, much like a priest or a teacher.”
The Leeds setting is also particularly personal to the actress, who spent part of her childhood in the city and has family connections to Yorkshire stretching back centuries. She’s also rather fond of the local football team.
“I love this city and I love the city’s football club Leeds United.”
Behind the scenes, ‘Protect and Serve’ brings together some serious British television talent. The drama is produced by International Emmy Award-winning Big Talk Studios, the company behind hits including ‘Ludwig’ and ‘The Outlaws’.
Screenwriter Helen Black brings particularly relevant experience to the project. Before becoming an established television writer and crime novelist, she worked as a solicitor advocating for children in care. That firsthand understanding of the system has informed her previous television work and is central to the new drama.
Black commented:
“Having long wanted to make a TV show about the care system and the scandal of the profits being made from the most vulnerable children in society, I’m delighted to be able to do so with my co-creator Adjoa Andoh, producer Jenny van der Lande and Polly Hill at ITV.”
ITV’s Director of Drama, Polly Hill, who commissioned the series and will oversee production for the broadcaster, added:
“I’m delighted to commission Protect and Serve as I have been wanting to find a show with Adjoa Andoh for some time. We have a shared ambition, together with Big Talk, to make a great police series that also has something to say. Helen Black’s scripts uncover the scandal in privatised children’s care homes while Araba lets us see what cost there is to becoming a high ranking black policewoman. It’s a show we are very proud to be making for ITV with such a great team.”
The series will be directed by Nimer Rashed, whose previous credits include the Harlan Coben Netflix thrillers ‘Run Away’ and ‘Missing You’. Stella Nwimo (Virdee, Three Little Birds, Gangs of London) will produce.
Big Talk chief executive Kenton Allen executive produces alongside Andoh, Black, Jenny van der Lande and Chris Clough (Mr Bates vs The Post Office).
With an experienced creative team, a compelling central detective and a storyline tackling some uncomfortable real-world issues, this sounds like another potentially strong addition to ITV’s growing collection of British crime dramas. And given Araba’s complicated home life, there’s clearly plenty of room to explore the woman behind the badge as well as the cases she investigates.
‘Protect and Serve‘ (working title) is due to begin filming in early 2027, with further casting announcements expected closer to production. ITV has not yet confirmed a premiere date.
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