Philippa Dunne, widely recognised for her portrayal of the cheerful Anne in the BBC comedy Amandaland, is set to take on a markedly more serious role in ITV's upcoming true-crime drama Believe Me. The series recounts the harrowing story of how victims of John Worboys, one of Britain's most prolific sexual predators, fought back after being failed by the justice system.
From Comedy to Courtroom Drama
The 44-year-old Irish actress steps into the shoes of Harriet Wistrich, a solicitor who represents three women who decided to sue the Metropolitan Police under the Human Rights Act. Their claim centred on the police's failure to properly investigate allegations of sexual assault, which the women argued led to degrading treatment and contributed to their distress. Not only did they win their case, but they also triumphed again after the Met appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
Worboys, played by Daniel Mays, operated under the guise of a respectable licensed taxi driver. He would target lone women, claim a recent win at a casino or on the lottery, and then offer them a drugged glass of champagne, leaving them unconscious and with little memory of the assault. The drama focuses on survivors Sarah (Aimée-Ffion Edwards) and Laila (Aasiya Shah), who reported their attacks but felt disbelieved by the police.
A New Collaboration for Philippa Dunne
This marks Philippa's first collaboration with acclaimed writer Jeff Pope, known for Little Boy Blue, Philomena, and See No Evil. She auditioned via Zoom, describing the process as demanding due to the dense legal dialogue. “It was the most dialogue I’ve ever had to learn in my life, so I was glad it was on Zoom because I had post-it notes everywhere,” she said. Even after landing the role, she relied on written prompts: “Because of how jargon-heavy all the legal stuff is, I had a lot of it written on the paper in front of me. So if you see me doing this at any stage, I am literally reading my script in front of the camera.”
The Writer's Perspective
Pope, who will next tackle Sarah Everard's story for the BBC, explained his motivation for writing Believe Me: “The first thing is – does something get you angry? Or really affect you? With this one I spent six months of my life being angry as I was pulling it together.” He spent extensive time with the three main survivors, listening to their personal and often difficult experiences. “I realised early in the process that there’s a whole world, and one half of the population really don’t know much about it and the other half live with it. Stuff like what women put up with just on a night out. Talking to my wife, my daughters-in-law, my sister and understanding what women go through in a normal day, it was such an education for me. I hope one half of the audience are going to go ‘yes, that’s what happens’ and the other half are going to go ‘what?’”
Additional Cast and Future Projects
The drama also features Miriam Petche as Carrie Symonds, now wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was targeted by Worboys in her youth but had a narrow escape. When Worboys was first considered for parole, Symonds, then working in the Conservative Party press team, risked her career to campaign for a judicial review of the Parole Board's decision.
Philippa will reprise her role as Anne in the second series of Amandaland, airing from May 6 on BBC1. She described the new series: “Anne is still in SoHa, juggling her high-powered job while raising her kids, attending all of Darius’s soccer matches, volunteering for activities at school while also being at the beck and call of her best pal Amanda.” Both she and co-star Lucy Punch have been nominated for Best Comedy Actress at the Bafta TV Awards, alongside Jennifer Saunders. Amandaland is also nominated for Best Scripted Comedy.
