ITV's new drama 'Believe Me' - Not His Story, But Theirs

Believe Me is ITV's latest true-crime drama, telling the story of how the victims of John Worboys were let down by the very system that was supposed to be there to protect them.

Daniel Mays as John Worboys (Credit: ITV)

The four-part ITV drama follows how Worboys preyed on vulnerable women, luring them into his taxi with stories of casino winnings before drugging and assaulting them.

However, this isn't John's story. In fact, it barely gives his life, his world or his damaged mindset a look in. Instead, this is a story about how his victims were let down by the Metropolitan Police, and the fight they had to put up to get the justice that they deserved.

The drama focuses specifically the stories of Sarah (Aimée-Ffion Edwards) and Laila (Aasiya Shah), who reported sexual assaults by Worboys (Daniel Mays), and how the Metropolitan Police failed to thoroughly investigate their allegations. More importantly, it highlights the Met’s focus on how much the women had drunk, whether they had taken drugs, what they were wearing and even how “promiscuous” their red nail polish appeared.

Director Julia Ford did a fantastic job at making the taxi-assault scenes as tense, deeply unsettling and uncomfortable as possible. Ford makes what should be ordinary taxi journeys feel tense and claustrophobic, with help from a phenomenal performance led by Mays. Ford comments that a decision was made to include no scenes of sexual violence. “The women don’t remember anything – or fragments – so the audience is told the story through them."

Writer Jeff Pope comments that shockingly "one half of the viewing public – the male half – will be really shocked. The women watching will be very angry but – terrifyingly – not as shocked as the men.” 

Aimée-Ffion Edwards as ‘Sarah’ (Credit: ITV)

Whilst set in London, the series was produced with the support of Creative Wales, so filming was mostly done in Cardiff. Pope comments that the Welsh "embraced us and we had no issues nailing down central London. The technical facilities were good. I can’t speak highly enough of the infrastructure and talent.”

Pope is no stranger to real-life, prime-time dramas. In fact, he's about to start work on another drama involving sexual violence, this time telling the story of Sarah Everard through a two-part BBC drama.

This drama arrives at a time when public trust in policing remains deeply fragile following the Sarah Everard, which saw police trust at an all-time low. The performances and script is sensitive, authentic and vivid, making this one of the most compelling dramas by ITV of recent times alongside the likes of I Fought the Law and Until I Kill You.