ITV has announced that new four-part drama Bad Blood has begun filming in the North East.
The series will tell the shocking true story of how more than 30,000 people were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and the early 1990s.
The new series will star Games of Thrones and Silo‘s Iain Glen, Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line), Susan Lynch (Happy Valley), Luke Treadaway (A Street Cat Named Bob), Patrick Fabian (Better Call Saul), Joe Absolom (Code of Silence), Precious Wura Alabi (Boiling Point) and Hannah McClean (Blue Lights).
BAFTA-winning screenwriter Peter Moffat (Your Honor) has written the series, having worked closely with the victims and their families whose lives were forever changed by the scandal, and it is being directed by Julia Ford (Believe Me).
Bad Blood will focus on four boys at Treloar’s, a boarding school for disabled children and young people, which had an attached specialist NHS centre for haemophiliacs, who would otherwise have had to make gruelling trips to hospital for treatment.
The boys were injected with Factor VIII, a treatment that potentially offered the possibility of an increased lifespan. However, some of the blood products were imported from the United States and manufactured from contaminated non-heat-treated blood plasma, and were infected with HIV and hepatitis.
ITV’s director of drama, Polly Hill, said: “We hope this drama will allow our audience to fully understand the infected blood scandal that started decades ago.
“We want to thank the team because it is testament to the importance of this story that we have Peter Moffat’s scripts and Julia Ford directing and it is produced by World Productions. We all hope the drama can do justice to all those affected by this scandal and the victims’ long fight for justice.”
Peter Moffat added: “It has been deeply humbling to hear the personal stories of the infected and affected, and a real privilege to be trusted with their accounts. This drama is an active treatment to a decades-long fight for justice by so many victims of this appalling scandal.
“We hope it can make a difference by ensuring their voices are properly heard.”
Bad Blood is expected to air on ITV next year.
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