ITV Unveils First Look at espionage drama Betrayal

Image: ITV Press

By Jon Donnis

ITV has shared the first images from Betrayal, a four part thriller due to arrive in 2026 on ITV1, STV, ITVX and STV Player. The cast alone makes you sit up a bit. Shaun Evans leads the story, with Romola Garai close behind him, and both seem well matched for a drama rooted in the messy overlap between personal and political danger.

The script comes from David Eldridge, whose writing often digs into the cracks in relationships, and this one is directed by Julian Jarrold. It plays out inside MI5, not with glossy spy tricks, but with a focus on the fragile ties between people who live their lives under pressure and behind locked doors.

Evans plays John Hughes, a mid career MI5 officer trying to keep pace with an intelligence world that keeps shifting under his feet. A meeting with a British Iranian man who claims to have information about a coming attack pushes John into a corner. The encounter does not unfold as he expects, and soon he is facing an internal investigation led by his superiors, including Simone Grant, played by Nikki Amuka Bird. At home, Claire, played by Romola Garai, struggles with the constant secrecy that defines John's work.

The story threads John's efforts to repair his marriage with his refusal to step back from the case. Mehreen Askari Evans, played by Zahra Ahmadi, joins the investigation when she is assigned to take over his duties, and John starts to see her as a rare ally. He becomes convinced that a hardline faction of the Iranian regime is involved, yet he cannot shake the feeling that danger might be creeping closer than he realises. The tension builds around whether he can pinpoint the target and stop the attack before time runs out.

Irma Inniss produces the series, which brings together a broad cast that includes Gamba Cole, Omid Djalili, Matthew Tennyson, Hayley Tamaddon, Anthony Flanagan, Paddy Rowan, Waj Ali, Karim Kadjar, Emma Cunniffe, Georgina Rylance, Ben Lambert, Julia Watson and Julian Wadham. Newcomers Elham Karimpour, Aidan Rivers, Corin Silva and Eliza Agrosoaie also feature.

Betrayal comes from Mammoth Screen, the ITV Studios label behind Code of Silence, working with Navarino Pictures. The executive producers are David Eldridge, Shaun Evans, Julian Jarrold, Tom Leggett and Damien Timmer, with development led by Rebecca Keane. Polly Hill and Huw Kennair Jones oversee the project for ITV, and ITV Studios will handle distribution.