A new crime thriller, produced by the Nelson man behind Line of Duty, is set to air on ITV tonight (Wednesday, October 4). 

The six-part crime thriller Payback is tipped to be the ‘next big thing’ for Line of Duty fans.

Payback follows Lexie Noble, played by Morven Christie (The Bay, The A Word, Ordeal by Innocence), as she becomes entangled in a perilous police operation to topple a notorious crime lord, Cal Morris, played by Peter Mullan (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Underground Railroad, Ozark). 

 

 

With an idyllic family lifestyle in the suburbs of Edinburgh, Lexie is unaware her husband, Jared, has been laundering Cal Morris’ illegal earnings on a vast scale. Jared’s every move is being monitored by financial investigators DC Jibran Khan (Prasanna Puwanarajah) and DCI Adam Guthrie (Derek Riddell), who are determined to use the Noble family to bring Cal Morris to justice. 

A partner in Jared’s business, Lexie is forced into working for Cal, at the same time as the police net inexorably tightens.  Soon Lexie finds herself walking a treacherous tightrope between Cal and the police in which her safety, and even her life, are in grave danger.

In the first episode Lexie's stable family life in Edinburgh is plunged into jeopardy when her accountant husband Jared is attacked in a street near to their home - as she attempts to pick up the pieces and begins working with the police to establish what happened, Lexie is forced to face unthinkable truths as links to dangerous gangster Cal Morris begin to emerge.

Jed, the creator of the multi-award-winning Line of Duty and Bodyguard, said: “Working with Debbie has been a joy, and everyone at HTM is proud to bring her thrillingly propulsive crime series to screen.

“We are very excited to announce a stellar line up of acting talent and pleased to be working with immensely talented directors and production team.”

Jed described the show as an "edge-of-your-seat thriller".

Lancashire Telegraph: Jed MercurioJed Mercurio (Image: PA)

He said: "You're going to want to watch all the episodes once you get into the story and you understand Lexie Noble's dilemma and the extreme dangers that she's facing. I think the audience will really tune into that and relate to her as a character. ]

"Then it's having that question of what they would do in that same situation in a story that goes in so many unexpected directions. It will really hook an audience and make them want to be watching the next episode as soon as possible."

Morven said: “I fell in love with Lexie from the first page, and I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Peter and this wonderful team in my hometown.”

Produced by Mercurio’s HTM Television, Payback stars Morven Christie, Peter Mullan and Prasanna Puwanarajah, and is written by screenwriter Debbie O’Malley.

Payback airs on ITV1 tonight at 9pm. It is available as a series for streaming on ITVX.