A Thousand Blows star revealed in "unsettling" role of real-life serial criminal in new true crime drama first look

This article contains references to sexual assault that some readers may find distressing.

After a selection of first-look images were released last week for Believe Me, the upcoming ITV drama about the victims of the so-called 'black cab rapist' John Worboys, a new image has now been unveiled of Daniel Mays in his key role.

Mays, star of Line of Duty and A Thousand Blows, will be playing Worboys in the series, and is seen in the image (below) driving a taxi.

Initial quotes have also been released, with Mays talking about his role in the series, saying that he felt a "huge responsibility" to the real-life victims in this story.

"This isn't a drama about the motives of John Worboys, and rightly so," he explained. "This is told from the perspective of the victims, and for them to tell their truth, have their stories told – the ordeals that they went through and the fight they took on against the Metropolitan Police and the court systems.

"So, when you're dealing with that, the onus was on me to get it absolutely 110% right. That was paramount to me."

Worboys was convicted in 2009 for crimes including sexual assault and drugging with intent against 12 women between 2006 and 2008, with their cases selected from a large number of suspected further victims.

He would pick up women in his taxi after they’d been on a night out, claim that he’d had a win at a casino or on the lottery, then persistently offer them a drug-laced glass of champagne, rendering them unconscious.

When asked whether it affected him to play someone who had committed such heinous crimes as Worboys, Mays added: "I actually underestimated how much it was going to affect me. I've been a professional actor for 26 years, so I've done a lot of true crime and played a lot of wrong ‘uns.

"When I got these scripts, it absolutely terrified me, because I'm a father myself. My head immediately went to my 13-year-old daughter Dixie. She's venturing out, going on trains, and before long, no doubt she'll be in the back of a taxi. So as a father, I found it an incredibly disturbing and terrifying read."

He continued: "It was a difficult thing to have rolling around in my head before filming. It was a very isolating character to play, by its very nature. When I was announced to play him, I got this tirade from family and friends and work colleagues who can’t quite believe it, going, 'Why would you want to play something like that?'

"So, the challenge was to humanise him, really, and that was a very difficult and unsettling thing to take on."

Alongside Mays, Believe Me also stars Aimée-Ffion Edwards (Slow Horses), Miriam Petche (Industry) and Aasiya Shah (The Beast Must Die) as Laila.

It focuses on the ordeal of two of Worboys's victims, who reported sexual assaults by him, and how they believed the Metropolitan Police failed to thoroughly investigate their allegations.

Believe Me will air on ITV1 and ITVX.

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