ITV has commissioned a new espionage thriller which will be set in the clandestine world of MI5 and star Endeavor, Until I Kill You and Vigil star Shaun Evans.Â
The new drama, Betrayal, will see Shaun’s character, John Hughes, working as a spy, trying to avert a serious and dark threat to national security while making sense of his own place in the world.Â
Despite being at MI5 for the past 20 years, John is now in his mid-40s, married with two children and struggling to adapt to the new ways at work, where threats to national security have changed and he’s forced to adapt to the values of a progressive work environment. Â
Revealing more of the plot, ITV says: “On a hunch, John meets Ehsan, a British Iranian man with links to the Manchester gangland who claims he has intelligence about a plot on UK soil, but before he can share intel, Ehsan is executed by a lone gunman, and John impulsively kills the assassin in retaliation. This triggers a chain of events that puts John in direct collision with his superiors who are furious that he appears to have got involved in a Manchester gang turf war.Â
“John thinks there’s more to it than that and starts digging into Ehsan’s past. He knows he’ll have to redeem himself if he’s to save his career, reputation and marriage, all the while struggling with his own mental health after having killed a man.”
As well as starring in Betrayal, Shaun, who is best loved for his role as Inspector Morse in Envevour, will also be behind the camera working as a producer on the show.Â
Filming for the new thriller is set to start in early 2025, and comes from the same team behind many ITV dramas including The Tower season 3 which aired earlier this month.
Speaking of his new role both in front and behind the camera, Shaun said: “I’m delighted to be returning to ITV with this exceptionally well-written and timely project. It’s a great privilege to reunite with David Eldridge and bring to life his insightful take on the world of espionage. And it is of course a joy to be collaborating once again with the first-rate team at Mammoth Screen. I look forward to sharing it with ITV audiences soon.”
Shaun is a man in demand because it was also announced earlier this year that he would be starring alongside Motherland‘s Anna Maxwell Martin in Until I Kill You – a new true crime drama heading for ITV later this year.Â
The four-parter tells the remarkable story of Delia Balmer, who survived a near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney and is based on her book of the same name.Â
