Actor Aimee-Ffion Edwards, known for her role in Peaky Blinders, has revealed that the most challenging scenes to film in ITV's true crime drama Believe Me were not the attack sequences but the aftermath.
The series, which premiered on Sunday, May 10, recounts the horrific story of John Worboys, the so-called 'black cab rapist.' Worboys, played by Daniel Mays, would pick up women after nights out, claim he had won money at a casino or lottery, and then persuade them to celebrate with a drug-laced glass of champagne, rendering them unconscious.
Episode one focuses on Sarah (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), whose real identity is protected, as she becomes the first victim shown in the cab and later reports the incident to the police.
During an ITV Q&A, Edwards emphasised the importance of having an intimacy coordinator on set and noted that intimacy does not always have to be physical. She explained: 'In this case, the examination scenes in lots of ways I think were more intimate than the actual stuff in the taxi.'
She added: 'I think that goes hand in hand with that they couldn't really remember the attack, but the process that comes after that, in terms of the investigation and the evidence they need to collect, is so harrowing and is its own other thing. When I read the script, it was actually the examination scenes that I found the hardest to read and the most harrowing, actually.'
While the first episode centred on Edwards' character, Sarah, episode two, airing on Monday, May 11, shifts focus to student Laila Mahmood (Aasiya Shah). The official synopsis reads: 'Student Laila Mahmood is drugged and assaulted by John Worboys, but her claims are dismissed by police and her case is dropped, despite the evidence of CCTV footage. Eventually, police spot a disturbing pattern.'
Believe Me is available to watch on ITVX.
