EXCLUSIVE: John Worboys, who was dubbed the “Black Cab Rapist” by the British press, is to be played by Daniel Mays in Jeff Pope‘s latest factual drama series for ITV.
Mays (A Thousand Blows) will star opposite Aimée Ffion-Edwards (Peaky Blinders), Aasiya Shah (Raised by Wolves) and Industry breakout Miriam Petche, who will play three of his victims.
Worboys is one of the most notorious serial rapists in British history. His modus operandi was to tell women in his cab that he’d won some money and then persistently offer them a glass of champagne, which he’d laced with drugs, and which rendered his victims unconscious. He was convicted in 2009 for sexually assaulting 12 women between 2006 and 2008, with their cases selected from a large number of suspected further victims.
Believe Me will focus on how the Metropolitan Police failed to thoroughly investigate two women’s allegations, which left Worboys free to commit assaults undetected for many years. The drama highlights how these women fought against all odds to have their cases heard, whilst looming in the background was Worboys’ first parole hearing. Unbelievably, eight years after he was convicted for his crimes, his victims were made to fight again to keep him behind bars. Police have said he may have had more than 100 victims.
Worboys’ crimes were charted in a 2018 ITV doc hosted by Susannah Reid but Believe Me is the first drama to take up the mantle. Oscar-nominee Pope (Philomena) is no stranger to factual drama, having most recently made Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes for ITV and with past credits including The Reckoning, Appropriate Adult and Hatton Garden.
Pope said Believe Me “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,” he added.
Produced in association with, and distributed by, ITV Studios, Believe Me comes from Pope’s Etta Pictures. Polly Hill is commissioner. Pope will EP alongside Saurabh Kakkar on behalf of Etta. Julia Ford (Until I Kill You) will direct the series. Catrin Lewis Defis (The Winter King) will produce. The drama will be filmed in Cardiff and is produced with the support of the Welsh Government via Creative Wales.
