Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio on what sets new thriller Payback apart
Morven Christie leads the cast of the upcoming series.
Jed Mercurio has outlined what differentiates ITV thriller Payback from other entries in the densely populated genre.
The screenwriter, who is best known as the creator of Line of Duty, serves as executive producer on the new series, which stars Morven Christie as a widowed accountant forced into dealing with a dangerous crime boss.
Mercurio worked alongside series creator Debbie O'Malley on the premise, drawing some inspiration from the shocking Panama Papers leak, which prompted a shift in focus to a money laundering conspiracy.
"One of the things that I think makes it really distinctive is that there's a storyline about financial crime," he explained, "which is quite unusual in TV thrillers, but what Debbie has done brilliantly is to make it very understandable.
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"Also, it always relates back to the stakes of the story, which is that Lexie Noble is caught between a very dangerous organised crime gang led by Peter Mullan's character and a police organisation that are desperate to bring down his empire."
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Mullan plays Cal Morris, a financial criminal who has evaded justice on several occasions and makes it quite clear he has no qualms about killing in order to get his way.
Line of Duty alum Prasanna Puwanarajah plays DC Jibran Khan, who is determined to bring Cal down at virtually any cost.
"Lexie is caught in the crossfire of that, and however complicated the financial side of things gets, we always circle back to that in a very visceral and easy-to-follow way," continued Mercurio.
In Mercurio's opinion, the main character herself represents another way in which Payback deviates from crime drama norms.
He added: "We hit on the idea of developing something that was about an every-person character within a thriller – a very ordinary person who doesn't normally get embroiled in the subject matter of this type of series, which is organised crime and police procedural."
Payback premieres on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday 4th October 2023. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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