ITV commissions new crime drama “Life Of Crime”

‘The Sweeney’ actress Hayley Atwell is to star in a new ITV 3 x 1 hour gritty crime drama, “Life of Crime.”

Hayley who also appeared in ‘Any Human Heart’, ‘The Prisoner,’ and ‘Captain America,’ plays risk-taking and impulsive rookie policewoman, Denise Woods, who becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer of a 15 year old girl called Anna.

“Life of Crime” explores Denise’s career over three decades as she progresses through the Metropolitan Police Force and how choices she makes as a rookie officer have long lasting and explosive repercussions on both her professional and personal life.

Having had a previous encounter with the teenager, Denise is determined to bring Anna’s killer to justice. Denise works against the clear instruction and advice of her senior officers and follows her own lines of enquiry.  She risks everything and if she’s not careful there’ll be a high price to pay, as the circumstances of Anna’s murder aren’t what they first appear.  As the enquiry progresses Denise’s fervor for the case leads her to fall foul of her senior officer,  DCI Ferguson.

The drama unfolds over three decades as we follow Denise throughout her work and family life.  We meet her first against the backdrop of the Brixton riots in 1985, but also in 1997 as she rises through the ranks and again in 2013 when she is a senior officer with everything to lose.  “Life of Crime” is the examination of one woman’s life both personally and professionally.  The drama asks the question; what does it take to make a modern police officer, and what will that police office sacrifice to catch a killer?

The drama is written by Declan Croghan (Waking the Dead, Ripper Street, Taggart), produced by Emma Kingsman-Lloyd (DCI Banks, Lip Service, M. I. High), executive produced by Douglas Rae (Mistresses, Nowhere Boy, My Boy Jack) and Michael Parke (Raw, Camelot, He Kills Coppers) for Ecosse Films (Charlotte Gray, Becoming Jane, Brideshead Revisited) and co-produced by Oliver Frampton. Jim Loach (DCI Banks) will direct the drama with Octagon Films in co-producing in Ireland.

“Hayley is one of the most outstanding actress of her generation,” said Douglas Rae of Ecosse Films.  “We previously worked with Hayley on our film Brideshead Revisited and I know she will embrace the extraordinary challenge of playing a woman over 30 years of her career” he added.

Filming begins in Brixton and Dublin for six weeks from November 2012.