Film crews have set up camp outside the historic Guildhall this week as filming takes place in Swansea for a gritty new ITV true crime drama. Based on the life and book of Delia Balmer, the four-part drama with a working title of the same name will tell the story of her near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney.
BAFTA-winning actress Anna Maxwell Martin who starred in the BBC sitcom Motherland will play Delia Balmer alongside actor and director Shaun Evans who will take on the role of John Sweeney. Parking bays on Francis Street in Swansea have been suspended this week and blocked off by traffic cones so crew and tech vehicles for the ITV production can park outside the Guildhall between Monday, April 10 and Friday, April, 14.
The show's filming commenced in February this year and the drama is being produced by World Productions, the company that brought us Line of Duty, Bodyguard and The Pembrokeshire Murders. The production has received support from the Welsh Government via Creative Wales.
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Written by Nick Stevens who also wrote The Pembrokeshire Murders, the drama follows Delia's life from when she first met John Sweeney in a local pub in 1991. As the relationship develops, Sweeney’s artistic, anti-establishment persona gives way to a darker side which ends in a series of violent attacks on Delia, during which he tells her he killed his former girlfriend and disposed of her body in a Rotterdam canal.
After Sweeney is arrested, he is granted bail when the court fails to realise how dangerous he is. This seals Delia's fate as she is then subjected to a horrific and near-fatal attack by him. Although she survives, Sweeney disappears and murders another girlfriend in north London seven years later. The drama follows Delia's astonishing journey to survive physical and emotional torment as she tries to build her life back and has to face Sweeney in open court with a testimony which is vital to the prosecution's case against him.
The drama is the latest in a series of shows filmed in Swansea including BBC's new Men Up drama about Viagra starring Iwan Rheon and the Agatha Christie murder-mystery Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. You can read all about the massive TV shows made in Wales here.
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