Until I Kill You’s Delia Balmer and new love David’s relationship in real life - and detail ITV left out
Viewers of the tense ITV true crime drama Until I Kill You have seen that former nurse Delia Balmer managed to survive a near fatal attack by her former boyfriend John Sweeney and embark on a relationship with a man named David.
David, who is portrayed by Downton Abbey’s Kevin Doyle in the series, and Delia spent “three or four years together” according to Kevin who describes his character as “a very generous soul.” In the series he embarks on a relationship with Delia, as played by Anna Maxwell Martin, as she tries to rebuild her life following John's attempt on her life.
“He’s aware that he is offering much more to the relationship than he is getting back, but he understands the reasons why, so he gives Delia a lot of leeway. I think he saw a wounded animal in Delia, and he felt that he could look after her and that in some way she could support him. They’re both people of a certain age whose lives haven’t necessarily gone in the ways they would have liked – he’s divorced, he’s got grown-up kids and he’s quite lonely.”
READ MORE:Until I Kill You - Where serial killer John Sweeney is now
READ MORE:Until I Kill You - Where Delia Balmer is now and what happened to John Sweeney's former girlfriend?
While Kevin says he is not the type of actor who does a great deal of research when playing a real life person, he did learn that there was one aspect of David’s personality that was left out of the series. “There are aspects of David we diluted slightly, like the fact he was a very heavy smoker,” he says.
“Delia found comfort in the stability that David offered and he did seem to offer something loving. He was very generous with his time and his money, but nevertheless she just couldn’t fully commit to the relationship and they lasted three or four years together.”
Killer John, played by Shaun Evans, was eventually found guilty of murdering two other women who he dismembered and dumped in canals. Delia managed to put Shaun behind bars but Kevin is sad that Delia and David were not able to make their relationship work in the long term. “What my character offers, and what Delia grabs onto for a while, is stability and a loving relationship. But she can never really fully commit to it and the slightest circumstance where she feels that relationship is under threat – and she sees threats from all kinds of directions – makes her feel she should throw in the towel. That’s legitimate, but what a terrible shame that she couldn’t ever really get past it.”
He adds: “To an extent there is optimism in this story, in that Delia survived, but how can you trust anyone in a new relationship? It must be absolutely horrendous.”
