Fool Me Once star Michelle Keegan and Worried About the Boy‘s Douglas Booth will star in ITV cop drama The Blame.
Keegan will play DI Emma Crane and Booth a character named DI Tom Radley in the six-part series, which is from Fool Me Once maker Quay Street Productions and written by Megan Gallagher (All her Fault). It’s based on debut novel of the same name by Charlotte Langley.
Joining them in the cast are Nathan Mensah, Nigel Boyle (Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders), Joe Armstrong (Gentleman Jack, Black Mirror), Matilda Freeman (How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, Passenger), Gavin Spokes (House of the Dragon, Slow Horses), Josh Bolt (Masters of the Air, Last Tango in Halifax) and Ceallach Spellman (Cheaters, White Lines).
The series centers of the discovery of the body of a teenage figure skater, sending shockwaves through the town of Wakestead. Crane and Radley begin digging and find a tangled web of lies, institutional cover-ups, and moral compromise.
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Quay Street Productions (part of ITV Studios) drama for ITV Matt Strevens (Capital, Cucumber) is the series producer, with Sara Huxley as co-producer. Fifth Season is co-producing and will handle international sales. Bex Rycroft (The Crow Girl, Screw) will be the director for episodes 1-3, and Claire Tailyour (The Wives, Beyond Paradise) for episodes 4-6.
Executive producers for Quay Street are Nicola Shindler (Nolly, It’s A Sin) and Richard Fee (Fool Me Once, Missing You), while Hill is executive producer for ITV. Gallagher developed the series for TV and is executive producer and lead writer alongside series co-writers Ashley Sanders and Namsi Khan. Filming will begin this summer in and around London.
“The Blame is a brilliant new crime thriller full of surprising twists and a compelling investigation that also cleverly tackles police corruption, exploitation and misogyny as the thriller unravels,” said ITV Director of Drama Polly Hill. “Megan is such a wonderful and clever writer, and with Michelle Keegan in the lead and Nicola Shindler at the helm, this is going to be an unmissable drama and one I’m very proud to have on ITV.”
Keegan starred in the Harlan Coben-penned Fool Me Once, which is one of Netflix’s best-performing original dramas. It was the top-rated TV drama for the streamer in the first half of 2024, above the likes of Bridgerton and Baby Reindeer.