ITV's Protection is the new crime drama Line of Duty fans will love
If you ask us, nothing beats nestling into the sofa, bowl full of snacks to hand, to watch the latest buzzy TV drama. So when news reached us that a gripping new series about the murky world of witness protection system is coming soon to ITV, our ears pricked up. Better yet, Protection will be led by Siobhan Finneran and Katherine Kelly, who are reuniting on screen after starring together in BBC smash-hit, Happy Valley.
So far, so very good, so here's everything we know so far, including some newly-released first-look pictures...
Protection: Release date
Protection is set to air as a six-part series in spring 2025, with reps for the show confirming to Red that it is currently "looking likely" to air on Sunday 16 March on ITV1 and ITVX. So, we've not got too much longer to wait.
Protection: Plot
Set to be a must-watch thriller that Line of Duty fans will love, Protection will take viewers behind the veil of witness protection, delving into an often dark and complex area where not only innocent witnesses are kept safe from harm, but also criminals. "It's a life of moral compromise," ITV says. "It also involves maximum secrecy, false identities and a world where you can't trust your own colleagues."
Based on a long-serving witness protection officer's real-life first-hand experiences, Protection will show what happens when this fragile system breaks down. "With a deft narrative that engages from the outset, [screenwriter] Kris Mrksa creates suspenseful twists and with every hairpin turn perfectly navigates the story to ensure the audience won’t know who to believe and who is telling the truth," the broadcaster promises.
The official Protection plot synopsis reads: "Police officer DI Liz Nyles works in the secretive and high-stakes world of Witness Protection. When we meet her, she’s juggling a challenging front-line job (with life and death consequences for her witnesses) alongside a demanding family life – attending to the needs of a teenage daughter, a difficult ex, and a dad recovering from a stroke.
"Liz is principled, in control, and scrupulous about the security of her witnesses, particularly the high-risk criminal turned informant Jimmy McLennan and his family. Jimmy is about to testify against his old boss Eddie Crowther, the head of a major organised crime group which has so far evaded prosecution. As with all those under her protection, Liz goes above and beyond to keep Jimmy’s family safe, working with colleague DS Raj Kohli to keep their whereabouts strictly hidden.
"Both at work and at home, Liz has always put others first, and being from a policing family she is driven by a great sense of duty as a police officer, mother, and as a daughter. But recently she has decided to take something for herself and has launched thrillingly – and unwisely – into a secret affair with a married, more junior colleague, DS Paul Brandice.
"One morning, a murder at one of her safe houses raises grave questions about the integrity of Liz’s unit, which is rocked with accusations of corruption: it is believed that someone has been leaking information to organised crime. Liz begins to wonder with horror if she has unwittingly compromised herself, if indeed her secret lover Brandice has sinister motives and has been using her.
"While the police team, led by the formidable DCI Hannah Wheatley investigates the incident, Liz secretly launches her own unofficial investigation to find the leak. In this, she must avoid the watchful eye of both Wheatley and of the inscrutable DCI Amanda Kelman, from Professional Standards, who has been tasked with weeding out corruption in Liz’s unit. It’s a tense and febrile atmosphere within the force as Liz pursues her secretive off-the-books investigation, bringing her into further conflict with the very police officers investigating her.
"As Liz investigates, she is confronted with disturbing and dark possibilities, raising questions not only about Brandice but also her team and her colleagues in the wider police force. Chasing clues to which she shouldn’t strictly have access, Liz finds herself transgressing in ways she wouldn’t previously have dreamt of, bringing danger ever closer to her door.
"As the series progresses, single mum Liz becomes increasingly torn between her dedication to her family, her loyalty to her lover, and her duty towards her witnesses. In struggling to unravel the mystery, she is drawn into a complex and clandestine world, coming up against various opaque, secret organisations operating at cross-purposes, and in rivalry to one another. And as the threat gets closer to home, she becomes more and more uncertain about whom she can trust.
"As much conspiracy thriller as police drama, this is the story of a compromised but ultimately honest police officer, out of her depth yet acutely driven to understand the truth of her secret lover and how far this corruption goes."
Mrksa, known for White House Farm and No Escape, said: "Protection is a suspenseful conspiracy thriller, but it also explores some complex moral questions, about how far we should be prepared to go in order to serve the greater good. The murky world of witness protection, where hardened criminals are often sheltered, in the hope that they will help bring down other criminals, provides the perfect context for examining these thorny issues. I'm incredibly excited to be working with the team at New Pictures again, in bringing this complex world to life."
Protection: Cast
Siobhan Finneran will play Detective Inspector Liz Nyles, with Katherine Kelly and Nadine Marshall also taking key roles, making Protection a show centred around what its producers have called "incredible female characters".
Explaining what drew her to the lead role, Finneran said: "When I read the first episode, within minutes, there's a big event, a major disaster that draws you in immediately. From early on you're ready to go on a journey with Liz to find out what's going on. It’s a great hook and the story is so complex. It's fascinating to me that a writer can fit all that together and it still makes sense at the end."
The trio will be supported by the likes of Barry Ward (Bad Sisters), Chaneil Kular (Sex Education), David Hayman (Sid and Nancy), Nichola Burley (The Gold) and Akiya Henry (Silent Witness).
Filming took place in the summer of 2023 in north-western locations including Liverpool, Birkenhead and Runcorn.
Stay tuned for more updates on Protection as we get them...
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