Until I Kill You is a four-part thriller set in 1991, based on a true story, in which agency nurse Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell Martin – Ludwig) is rather ostracised at work, as she doesn’t mix well with people, travels a lot on her own and can come across as not quite the full shilling.
Meanwhile, after Delia meets carpenter John Sweeney (Shaun Evans – Vigil) in the pub, with her inviting him back, then overeacting and seeing red when he spills tea on her rug, and later, while at her friend and colleague Leah’s (Amanda Wilkin) house, he thinks nothing of urinating on the plants outside when needing the toilet, so they’re not massively suited to each other.
Add in the situation of Melissa, a young model, having gone missing in Amsterdam with the police starting to get involved, but between the two main characters, who is ‘I’ and who is ‘You’ in the title? (well, avoid looking up the synopsis in the TV guide!)
At the time of posting this review, while it’s online on ITVX and I’ve seen the first two episodes, it hasn’t yet gone live on TV, so I’ll leave any further discussion in a spoiler section below, although I will avoid key plot points and outcomes at this time.
However, it’s safe to say that as well as, around the ad breaks, the plot often advances on a few months each times, there’s some superb acting from the two leads, although Delia’s character is Australian, but really doesn’t sound like it. In fact, whatever accent she’s trying to do seems all over the place.
For John, he’s from Liverpool, with his parents played by Brookside’s Eddie Banks (Paul Broughton (Doctor Who: Flux: War of the Sontarans) and Doreen Corkhill (Kate Fitzgerald).
UPDATE Episode 2:
I’ll update episodes 3 and 4 after they are broadcast.
UPDATE Episode 3:
Until I Kill You begins tonight at 9pm and continues each night up until Wednesday, but the whole series is already on ITVX. It’s not yet available to be pre-ordered on Blu-ray or DVD, but you can buy the book on which it’s based in paperback and Kindle.
Directeor: Julia Ford
Producer: Ken Horn
Writer/Creator: Nick Stevens
Music: Carly Paradis
Cast:
Delia Balmer: Anna Maxwell Martin
John Sweeney: Shaun Evans
Leah: Amanda Wilkin
Astrid De Vries: Sallie Harmsen
Stewart Balmer: Cory English
Jack Halstead: Mitchell Mullen
Joshua Wilson: Jack Franklin
WPC Jane Barker: Lucy Thackeray
Emily Baker: Claire-Louise Cordwell
DC Collins: Steve Edge
DC Flynn: Matthew Aubrey
David: Kevin Doyle
Janice Rainsworth: Stephanie Street
Imelda Dunning: Sophie Ford
Tom Mackin: Mathew Trevannion
Joshua Wilson: Jack Franklin
Mrs. Wilson: Alice Barclay
Judge: Gerald Tyler
Eloise Chapman: Clare Foster
Inspector Stilma: William Brand
DC Christine Webb: Laura Morgan
Mr Sweeney: Paul Broughton
Mrs Sweeney: Kate Fitzgerald
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.