The BBC has released a first look at Sheridan Smith in its new drama about serial killer Stephen Port.
Smith plays Sarah Sak, the mother of one of the four young men Port poisoned with lethal doses of a date rape drug between June 2014 and September 2015.
Stephen Merchant, meanwhile, has been cast as Port, who was sentenced to a full life jail term in November 2016, although the series will focus on the victim’s families.
Writers Neil McKay and Jeff Pope said they were “so grateful” Merchant had “agreed to take on such a difficult and challenging role”.
Pope and McKay previously collaborated with Smith on 2017’s The Moorside, a drama about the hoax kidnapping of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews.
The three-part series, currently titled The Barking Murders, is set to air this year. It also stars Samuel Barnett, Rufus Jones and Jaime Winstone.
