ITV confirm start date for chilling true crime drama Until I Kill You with acting legends

Until I Kill You has got a release date - and it's sooner than you think.

The true crime drama is based off the story of Delia Balmer, who was in a relationship with murderer John Sweeney. Delia managed to survive a relationship with the criminal, with Anna Maxwell Martin taking on the role of Delia and Shaun Evans - best known for starring in Endeavour - will play John Sweeney in the drama.

It is based on Delia's memoir, Living With A Serial Killer, which follows her real life story of meeting John in a local pub. An agency nurse, Delia finds solace and love in John and a relationship quickly develops. However, he soon ends up showing his true colours and attacks her, where he also admits he killed his ex-girlfriend and dumped her in an Amsterdam canal.

Sweeney is later arrested but granted bail and he goes after Delia and nearly kills her, before managing to escape. Years later, as Delia begins to rebuild her life, Sweeney finds himself arrested for murdering another girlfriend. She is forced to face him in court, her testimony vital to secure his imprisonment.

Anna plays Delia on the drama but she was adamant she didn't want to meet her first.

"I've played quite a few real people and I have never met them before. I don’t choose to do that, that’s how I work. Our writer, Nick, filmed a lot of footage of his meetings with Delia, which I had access to," she said.

"I did meet her very briefly during filming, but only because she wanted to visit the set and of course I was respectful of that. I didn’t do lots of research into abusive relationships either, instead I just focussed on the character, on who she was, how she responded to things, and what I could gauge about how she interacted with people. Then you go from there and you try to be as accurate as you can in terms of how that person would behave and respond."

Shaun, who plays John, felt it was an "unusual" series for ITV to make as they are focusing on the victim and not the perpetrator.

"Like I said earlier, I think what’s unusual about it and what drew me to it is that we are focusing on the victim and telling her story but not glorifying anybody else except the victim. You’re getting into the weeds of what that was like after the event and that’s what I think is interesting and that’s what is agonising and painful about it. I think that’s unusual for any broadcaster. If you look at the sort of things that have been made recently within the same genre, they are focusing more on the perpetrator and not the victim," he said.

Until I Kill You is on ITV1 and ITVX from 3rd to 6th November at 9pm followed by the companion documentary Until I Kill You: The Real Story on 7th November at 9pm.