Theteam behind ITV1 drama Believe Me have opened up about how they set about creating “an incredibly empathetic environment” for everyone working on a series with potentially “triggering” themes.
Etta Productions’ four-parter recounts the experiences and fight for justice of some of the victims of John Worboys, the convicted prolific sex offender that the press dubbed the ‘black cab rapist’.
It is the latest true-crime drama from writer Jeff Pope, following such landmark series as The Walk-In, A Confession, Little Boy Blue, The Widower and Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.
Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch, producer Saurabh Kakkar said that while Believe Me does not dwell on Worboys’ assaults – not least as many of his victims were unconscious at the time and had no clear memory of what happened – it was “an absolute necessity” to employ more than one intimacy coordinator, as well as several wellbeing coordinators.
“We have such a duty of care with our actors and crew anyway that having an intimacy coordinator is not just a nice thing to do,” he said.
“The things we talk about in this drama affect so many different people – crew members and people loosely associated with the production felt quite triggered by things, so we made sure we had support networks for them.
“We had a helpline, we had people who they could talk to, a person who went round everyone asking if they were ok with this.
“What we try to do is create an incredibly empathetic environment where you don’t want, for the sake of telling a story, to push people into a place where they feel awful or uncomfortable or make a mess of their lives in any way, shape or form … ultimately, it’s only telly. We’re trying to make sure we don’t screw people’s heads in trying to tell the story.”
'The system failed them'
Pope said it was fair to question whether, as a man, he had the right to tell the stories or Worboys’ survivors, as well as the subject of his next drama, a companion piece of sorts about Sarah Everard for the BBC.
The production team worked closely with survivors of Worboys’ attacks to tell their stories faithfully and he added that he wrestled long and hard about one brief depiction of assault in Believe Me that represented one woman’s memories of her ordeal.
The big picture, he said, is “not a gender-specific story”, but an exploration of “how the system failed them and how the Met failed them”.
He added: "What happened to them after that night, how they were treated … it’s not about [my] gender. Yes, I’m a man, but I’m a writer saying this is something that needs to be addressed.”
While UK-centric stories like this can struggle to attract funding, Pope acknowledged that the huge success of Mr Bates vs the Post Office “reminded broadcasters that if you get these pieces right, they can really change the perception of your channel, and therefore they’re worth investing in”.
Believe Me was filmed in Cardiff with support from the Welsh Government via Creative Wales. Having filmed there before, director Julia Ford knew of locations that could double as London and, as an added bonus, having Newport-based Welsh actress Aimee Ffion Edwards in a leading role helped secure the Welsh subsidy.- Believe Me airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Sunday 10 May and will be available as a box-set on ITVX.
