Believe Me star Aasiya Shah opened up about how the harrowing true story of the ITV drama will likely be less of a shock to women due to continued systematic attitudes.
Upcoming ITV drama Believe Me is expected to premiere on screens soon, telling the story of how the victims of one of the most prolific sex attackers in British history were failed by the system. Speaking to GB News and other media, the cast talked about the tough roles.
An ITV description reads: “John Worboys was dubbed the ‘black cab rapist’ after preying on women under the cover of being a ‘respectable’ licensed taxi-cab driver.
“He was convicted in 2009 for crimes including sexual assault and drugging with intent against twelve women between 2006 and 2008, with their cases selected from a large number of suspected further victims.
ITV’s Believe Me is based on real life events
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ITV
“His modus operandi was to pick up women in his cab after they’d been on a night out, claim that he’d had a win at a casino or on the lottery, then persistently offer them a drug-laced glass of champagne to help him ‘celebrate,’ which then rendered his victims unconscious.”
The drama focuses on the ordeal of Sarah (Aimée-Ffion Edwards) and Laila (Aasiya Shah), who reported sexual assaults by Worboys (Daniel Mays), and how the Metropolitan Police failed to thoroughly investigate their allegations, leading them to feel that they were just not believed.
The drama explores what countless women say they have to go through after reporting rape, the indignity of multiple interviews and intimate evidence gathering, and how they can face skeptical lines of questioning from the police.
Speaking to GB News and other press, Ms Shah pointed out that Laila, who she portrays in the programme, was even asked by an officer if her red nail varnish was indicative of her character.
Aasiya Shah talked about systematic attitudes towards women
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ITV
“I think earlier on, we were doing other interviews, and we were talking about how, you know, that kind of feeling of the questions around that women’s safety in society that… Maybe those things aren’t as shocking to to women as an audience,” the actress noted.
Addressing the flawed questioning and of the police and the failures in the case, she continued: “But actually, I think that was what was shocking.
“That part was shocking for me. I knew that the system had its flaws, but seeing it laid out so plainly like that – and it’s not just like a one time incident. It’s like a continuous thing.
“I think that was definitely, definitely shocking.
Believe Me tells the story of the ‘black cab rapist’
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ITV
“And I think, you know, it’s systemic, but it also speaks to, I think, a wider attitude about how we how we relate to women, how we relate to survivors.
“I think there are a lot of kind of attitudes that need shifting, and I think the system kind of is just perpetuating those, those attitudes.”
Daniel Mays portrays Worboys in the drama, and talked about the emotional impact it had on him.
“We did also have access to a counselor as well, I ended up having a half-hour conversation with her in the last week, which was definitely needed. It was invaluable to me,” he commented.
Daniel Mays portrays the ‘black cab rapist’
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ITV
Speaking about support on-set, Ms Edwards also shared her experience, reflecting on the intimacy coordinators who supported the cast.
She explained: “What is so brilliant about having an intimacy coordinators is there’s an acknowledgement that some scenes, they don’t have to be physical to feel intimate.
“And I think is in this case as well, the examination scenes, in lots of ways, were actually more intimate than the actual stuff in the in the taxi, and I think also that goes hand in hand with this idea that they couldn’t necessarily remember the attack.