Shaun Evans on Betrayal – Inside ITV Studios’ New Spy Thriller

Actor Shaun Evans and executive producer Tom Leggett join Justin Crosby on TellyCast to discuss Betrayal — ITV Studios and Mammoth Screen’s gripping new espionage drama.

Best known for Endeavour, Shaun takes on a very different kind of spy in Betrayal, playing MI5 operative John Hughes — a man navigating a collapsing marriage, shifting office politics and a looming terrorist threat no one else believes is real.

The pair reveal the five-year journey behind the series, how writer David Eldridge infused the genre with emotional truth, and why Betrayal feels unlike any spy drama you’ve seen before. They discuss its themes of trust, loyalty and midlife reckoning, as well as the show’s dark humour, grounded realism and cinematic visual style.

Betrayal premieres on ITV in early 2026 and is one of the most anticipated dramas on the ITV Studios slate.

Listen to the full conversation for an inside look at how Evans and Leggett brought this complex, modern spy story to life.

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Transcript

Justin Crosby: [00:00:00] Hi, I am Justin Crosby and welcome to another TellyCast. This week I'm joined by actor Sean Evans, an executive producer Tom Legett, to talk about Betrayal ITV Studio's darkly compelling new espionage, thriller. From Mammoth Screen, best known for his long running role in Endeavor. Sean takes on the part of MI 5 operative John Hughes.

A man caught between a collapsing marriage, shifting office politics, an looming terrorist threat. No one else seems to believe is real. Written by award-winning playwright David Eldridge and directed by Julian Gerald. Betrayal promises to be as emotionally intelligent as it is gripping. We are diving into the creative choices behind the series, the themes of trust and loyalty, and what sets this spy drama apart from the back.

Sean, thank you very much for [00:01:00] joining us. Absolutely. Pleasure. Thanks very much for having us. So let's, uh, let's start with the obvious. What drew you to this role then? John Hughes isn't your typical MI five operative. He's, uh. Dealing with threats, both personal and national. What hooked you in? About 

Shaun Evans: five years ago, myself and Tom, uh, started a conversation about ideas for future projects, all sort of worlds that we will be interested in telling stories about.

MI five kept coming back. We kept circling back to MI five, so that was the world of it. Um, in terms of, from a character point of view, back to your question was I was sort of intrigued by the idea of someone having a midlife crisis. If you think of I five, it's so exclusive and it's, it's so sort of fantastical or art fictionalized ideas of it.

It's so fantastical. I thought it would be interesting if you could ground that in a, an something, a sort of life event, which virtually everyone to a greater sort of lesser degree we'll go through. So we were thinking about this chap who will, [00:02:00] might be having a midlife crisis who is now working at high level at MI five.

From that point, we then approached, um, David Eldridge, the magnificent writer who I had worked with before and long admired. Um, and then the three of us began a slow, slow conversation about building this world, building the character, and really drilling into the kind of difficulties that he might be facing.

And I was intrigued or interested in if he can't trust his physical health. If he can't trust his mental, uh, capacities, he's struggling in his most immediate relationships and he's struggling in work as well. I thought all of those elements could potentially set against the backdrop of. International espionage could make a pretty compelling story and make a pretty compelling character.

So that was where it 

Justin Crosby: began. And you've been really invested in this, haven't you? You are an [00:03:00] executive producer on this series, so this is, you've been a key part of its development over the years. 

Shaun Evans: Yeah, that's right. Well, like I say, it was, it was myself and Tom originally about five years ago. Um, who, when we began to speak about what the ideas of worlds that we would like to, to.

To in Harbo and what stories we'd like to tell. So yeah, I mean, it's a, an amazing, uh, great, good fortune, uh, for me to, to have helped to develop the idea and then to nurse it along and then to finally have made it this year, which was an incredible experience and now to be, for it to be out next year into the world.

So yeah, it's been something that we've been. Nursing and guiding along the way, which is an enormous privilege for me because, you know, often if you're an actor or a director, you, a script can land on your desk. Um, and it's sort of in, in a weird way, it's sort of at the end of the process then. And I mean, I've always been intrigued about [00:04:00] trying to understand and be involved in every aspect of, of telling stories and making tv and so.

This is, yeah. So this has been a joy from beginning to end. 

Justin Crosby: Well, it looks fantastic, but, uh, Tom, coming to you, so betrayals, the title, there's obviously quite a lot of emotional heavy lifting. Um, uh, there's a lot of emotional and political implications within the series. Tell us about, you know, what's at the heart of the story for you.

Tom Leggett: I mean, I think, um, you know, it Betrayal as a title is I think really apt for the show. I think betrayal is something as a, is a theme that goes hand in hand with the spy genre. But I, I think what what is surprising about the show is that it is exploring all different levels of betrayal in John Sean's character's, personal life, all, all the characters in the show experience a level of betrayal within their, um.

It within their relationships with each other. And that, that is kind of at the center of [00:05:00] the story in, in surprising and unexpected ways. And I think for, for me, the, the sort of heart of the show, which, which really is, it's a, the show is a brilliant thriller and it, and, and it, and it delivers in terms of suspense and um, and plot and unexpected twists and turns.

But I, I think the heart of the show, which really is, is sort of what David. Uh, brought to it in the writing and, and is why he's such a brilliant writer. And, um, um, originally when, when Sean and I talked about is, is really a story about, uh, John. But also the characters around him who, who are sort of in the mid journey of their lives trying, looking back at what they've been and looking forward to something that feels very uncertain and, and quite terrifying.

And, and that, that really is played out in a lot of the relationships, particularly the kind of central sort of three, three characters of, um, John and his, uh, wife Claire, who's played by mla, Gary and, and, um, John's relationship with [00:06:00] Maureen, who's played by Zara. Marty. And that is, I think, really at the heart of the show is this sort of midlife, um, question.

And, and as, as Sean said, the midlife crisis, what was something when we first started talking about it and is very much there, but it's, I suppose it's something that we all as human beings experience when we kind of reach half time is that thing of, you know, what have we done? Who, who are the people we've been?

In the years before and, and, and what does the future hold? And to play that all out within a kind of spy thriller context felt very kind of original and, and interesting. And, and I, I think is, is sort of there in the show. 

Justin Crosby: Yeah. 100%. Well, Sean, uh, tell us about the, the role. John's not just a spy, he's a father, he's a husband, he's a man navigating a workplace that's changing around him.

How did you approach playing somebody juggling such private and public pressure? 

Shaun Evans: Uh, well, good question. Well, I feel [00:07:00] like we're all, well, I mean, what? It's all women, right? It says we each contain multitudes, and I think that's true. We've all, each of us are a, a son, a brother. Uh, we are who we are in the world in addition to our professional life.

But I think what's interesting about this and what I was particularly interested in, if you can. If you cannot be upfront with your nearest and dearest about the things that you are dealing with in work on a daily basis, what does that do? The amount of pressure that you are under, but what does that do?

If you can't share that with the people that you love and that you see every day, what does that do to you? But also what does it do to the nature of your relationships as well? If you are evading and being slightly dishonest or avoiding and blocking every conversation over dinner, what does that do to your relationship with your wife and indeed your relationship to your kids?

There's a strange isolation in that, and so yeah, you are right. He's, he's juggling and [00:08:00] spinning all of these plates as indeed all of, we all are in our lives. But the particularly interesting thing about this is, and what I wanted to focus on was. How the spinning of those plates becomes a very isolated thing for John.

And as we meet him in the middle of his life, as Tom says, sort of reflect them back and looking forward to a very uncertain future, how do you square? How does he square that circle and what does it all mean? And then you touched on the point of, um, a new and evolving workplace, I think. That was a very interesting thing to sort of observe over the past five years, how, just how the world has shifted since COVID and rightly so, the pendulum has completely swung and in a good way and, and, and certainly, but what, what, what the, what that means for everyone.

Um, so yeah, sort of in, in that kind of [00:09:00] territory. Um. I was interested in exploring and it was that that I was sort of focusing on rather than just the sense of a hurried man who has too much to do in his daily 

Justin Crosby: diary. So, Tom David Elbridge is known for his sharp and emotional writing. What has he brought to this project that perhaps we haven't seen in the genre before?

Tom Leggett: Well, I, I think when, um, when we first, I, I was a huge fan of, of David's play beginning, which I saw in 2017 when it was on at the West End. Um, and he's since written two more chapters in that trilogy. He's got, he wrote a play called Middle and he's just about to, uh, mount, uh, end, which is gonna star Clive o in at, um, the national.

And I think what. What I love the most about beginning is, is it's, it was about two people who met at a house party and, and basically in their kind of late, late thirties, early forties choosing to, to begin a relationship with [00:10:00] each other. And it, it, it was, it was sort of pregnant as a play with all the things that I mentioned earlier about two people looking back on the choices they've made in their lives and, and deciding to.

Uh, begin and to start something new together. And I, I, I thought the play was just, uh, stunning and, and, and giving a sort of voice to things that are really not explored in drama and. When I spoke to Sean about, originally about this idea, and I had had a meeting with David, I, I, I, I thought the emotional arena that he was in would be quite interesting for the genre.

What I didn't realize when we met him to talk about it is he had actually just been approached by John Lare to adapt the spy who came in from the cold for the stage, which is also is coming to the West End, uh, later this year at Premier and Chichester last year, and he was an absolute. Obsessive about the spy genre and I, I didn't know any of this about him, but had [00:11:00] really sort of done his homework and, and had a real insight and an attitude to it.

And I, I, I, I, I thought, and we all thought it would be interesting to bring what, what David is so good at in, in theater, which is writing these incredibly real, emotionally truthful plays. They're incredibly funny and marrying that with the spy genre. Um, and, and really he brought both those things. He, he brought all of that and it, it is in the show is, is this incredibly emotional, funny, playful, kind of quotidian dynamics between a husband and wife, but also has the kind of high stakes spy thriller, um, beats and, and, and sequences that, that we all kind of expect and love from the genre.

But I think. In the fusion of the two, he's brought something that does feel very fresh, that feels very contemporary, feels very original. Um, so that's really what he brought to it. 

Justin Crosby: Well, there's a key moment in the synopsis where, uh, a source is murdered and John has to [00:12:00] convince his own colleagues that this threat is real.

Sean, how much of this story is about being believed and the fragility of trust inside systems like MI five? 

Shaun Evans: That's a really great question. I think. A a hell of a lot is about trust. I mean, look at the title Betrayal. Um, and so, but it works on two levels, right? I mean, how much can his personal relationships, how much trust exists there?

If you've been dishonest throughout the course of your work and life to your wife, but then within the changing landscape of working inside Thas house, where. A lot of things are obviously technical now, technological now, and computerized in the world. This is a person who's still sort of working on hunches and working on instinct.

Um, but how do you quantify that? How do you, and I suppose that is sort of an interesting territory [00:13:00] from. Uh, which the basis story, I suppose that's what we were thinking. Really. Does that answer your question? 

Justin Crosby: It does, yeah. So Tom Betrayal is pitched as sharp, stylish, intense, and it's kind of on a par with, uh, international thrillers.

Um, what was the visual language that you and Julian Gerald wanted to, to create? For this, for this series? 

Tom Leggett: Well, I mean, firstly, uh, Julian is an incredibly accomplished director who we were so excited when he wanted to, when he became interested in directing the show. 'cause we, we were all huge fans of his work.

I was. Uh, particularly thought appropriate adult, which was another ITV show that he did about the West was extraordinary with, uh, Dominic West and, uh, red Riding as well, and, and, and has had a film career as well. And I, I think what, when we, when I talked to Julian, who, who is in incredibly thoughtful, um, and incisive thinker, he, he didn't do that thing that.[00:14:00] 

A lot of directors do when you meet them, where they sort of bombard you with references and, and sort of bombard you with, with other film I that are similar or tonal or color palettes and all of that. He was very absorbed in the scripts and the material. But the, the things we, the films we did talk about a lot and, and I think it, it is born out in the final, um.

In, in the episodes is, is things like the conversation, uh, the Francis for Coppola film, uh, with Gene Hackman and, uh, the Parallax View and CLTs and all the president's men, those Alan j PE films, which, which have a very particular style and a mood to them that is very much about kind of paranoia and uncertainty and they use a lot of very long lens.

Photography of, of characters being observed and being watched. And, and I, I've noticed as, as the sort of edit has progressed, that, that those, that language is in the show, that, that, that sort of sense, that slow creep of, of suspense [00:15:00] and, and fear is, is in there. And I, I think those films particularly not just on a kind of, um, a cinematographic level, but they also.

Are really relevant to the world we live in now, which is a much more uncertain, un, un, un sort of, um, unstable world where the kind of truths that we've all lived our lives by are suddenly are all kind of in question. And, and he, he sort of brought that, uh, to the show and, and I think, um, it, it, it feels very, uh, it feels very special and, and I think, um, uh, Julian just kind of did that so effortlessly.

Justin Crosby: Sean, now there's a, a hint of dark humor running through the script. Did that surprise you? Did the hint of 

Shaun Evans: dark humor surprise me? No, not really. I mean, I'd known David, I'd worked with David previous. Um, and I think that's sort of a, like motif of his work, this humor, which sort of is sprinkled on the top of really heavy and emotionally [00:16:00] complex situations and people.

I also think. You know, it'd be pretty dreary if you are telling a story about the guy who's having a been life crisis, and it was all one obstacle after the next. So I think humor's a really great way to get into a story and to make a story more accessible. And then ultimately, of course, we're making a TV show.

And so you don't want it to feel heavy. It should feel light and a delight to watch and enjoy. And humor's obviously a great. Way to do that. 

Justin Crosby: I mean, is that a challenge, uh, as an actor to balance that, you know, tension, absurdity and the domestic drama elements in, in, in the, in the show? Is, is, is that a real challenge for you?

Shaun Evans: Not a challenge at all. No. In fact, not a challenge at all. In fact, it's very rich and makes it very exciting. It's challenging when there's very little going. It's far more exciting when there's a hell of a lot of things going on, and there's a hell of a lot of things to play because then it gives you the opportunity to, to try different things and to focus on different things, different aspects of relationships or different aspects of the character.

[00:17:00] It's very, makes it a very rich landscape. Rather than it feeling like slim pickings. 

Justin Crosby: So, so Tom, character and psychology are, are really at the heart of this drama, but espionage often leans towards sort of tech and geopolitics and, but betrayal seems much more personal. Is that something that you are consciously steering away from, you know, for to, or, or more towards that personal, uh, experience?

Tom Leggett: I, I think one of the things we, we did, um. Really was an aspiration from, for the show from the very beginning when, when Sean and, and David and I, um, first started talking about it. Um, and we were un unlike a lot of spy shows, which are often based on existing ip, we were like, this is going to be an original show.

And so one of the, the main aspirations was for us to try and make the show as, as real as possible to what. The what the spy, the life of a spy actually is. And, and we worked with an [00:18:00] extraordinary man who, who has now himself becoming a very successful podcaster called Gordon Carrera, who at that point was working for the BBC, but was sort of doing consulting on TV dramas.

And he, he really educated us that the reality of spying. Uh, the reality of being an MI five officer is not the kind of high tech, slick, glamorous world of a lot of TV shows and films that, obviously James Bond has kind of led the way in, in putting out a certain vision of what that life is like. That it, it, it is much more like.

You know, everyday jobs because at the end of the day, you know, MI five, MI six, or as it's called, SIS, they're, they're public institutions. They're, they're no different to hospitals or councils. They're, they're public institutions funded by the taxpayer. Um, and they don't have the level of resources that we are used to seeing in things like Day of the Jackal or Slow horses.

They, they, they have. To fight for [00:19:00] resources to be able to put that into operations and to put that into investigations. And I think that that's a very deliberate choice, is to look at, you know, the, the salary of being an MI five officer is, is, is, you know, it isn't necessarily what people might think it is that it, it is still a civil service role.

It's a public service role. People are doing it because they want to serve the public, and that means that. In their personal lives. You know, it's the usual thing. It's the things that we all deal with of, you know, what supermarket to market to shop in and you know, where you, you know, are you shopping in little or Sainsbury's or you know, that week, you know, budgeting, if, particularly if you've got a young family doing all of that.

And I think we've really tried to, as much as possible, um. Represent that in the show and, and show that that s spies the reality of spying is, is not this really kind of glamorous, um, world where everyone's swig, swig, martinis and, and living [00:20:00] and playing, uh, cards in Monte Carlo that, you know, there is a, a great scene that, um, in episode one where, where John is filling the washing machine and, and that when we were talking about it, we were like, there's never been a spy show where a spy is filling a washing machine, but obviously they do.

And that, that is the reality of it, you know, and, and so we've really tried to put that in so that hopefully people who watch the show find it as thrilling and compelling as, as other spy shows, but also are being offered something slightly different that that is. Closer, I believe, to the reality of it.

Justin Crosby: Yeah. A little bit more relatable. And grounded in, in reality. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Sean, now you've become something of a mainstay in ITV studio's Crime Drama World, from Endeavor to the Bay to Until I Kill You, and now Betrayal. What keeps drawing you back to this world of morally complex investigations and what sets betrayal apart from those past roles?

You know what to, in 

Shaun Evans: [00:21:00] truth, I've been just incredibly lucky. There is no huge gain plan with that. It's just the jobs that have landed and have been, that have had the good fortune have come my way. And so, and I feel very grateful for that and long may continue. I don't feel like I've seen anything like this before.

Each of those jobs felt very different. They each felt. Very different from the one which came before. Um, so yeah, I don't really quite 

Justin Crosby: know how to answer that question. But the, the, but the, the, I mean, there's obviously a thread running through those roles, but equally, you know, each of them is very different.

Shaun Evans: Yeah. I mean, I suppose there is a thread running through them. I dunno, they sort of say, don't do that. You see your life through the prism of the job that you're working on at the time. Or there might be something that potentially I bring to those. Jobs, which is something to do with where my head is at the time.

And so there's gonna be a sort of a similarity, I guess, or a sort as you say, a, a common thread connective tissue between it all. Um, [00:22:00] yeah, I dunno. Perhaps as well, we're still too fresh from finishing betrayal for me to say, oh, it's so different and this is how it's different from those previous things.

Um, perhaps I'm still too. Closely connected to it to have any, um, objective distance. Do you know what I mean? 

Justin Crosby: Yeah, absolutely. So, well, well, um, what do you hope audiences will take away then, Sean, from Betrayal? Is it just a, a cracking thriller or is there something more. That you are hoping lands emotionally or politically from the series?

Shaun Evans: Oh yeah. I mean, I certainly, I think, I think all of those things think it, it, hopefully it'll be a crack and thriller and I'm hoping that people will feel emotionally, I personally involved in it. Um, and, but ultimately I think. And I always say this, I'm such a broken record about it, but like if it's a good story well told, then in a way I'm happy.

Do you know like if people enjoy it via for escapism [00:23:00] for an hour, then that makes me happy too. So I'm hoping that it just. Yeah, it entertains and moves 

Justin Crosby: and amuses people. Well, Sean and Tom, thank you so much for joining me on TellyCast this week. The betrayal premieres on ITV in early 2026 and is one of the most anticipated scripted dramas on the ITV studio's mip com slate this year.

So huge. Thanks again to Sean Evans and Tom Leggett for joining me on TellyCast and for pulling back the curtain on what looks like to be one of the most. Talked about thrillers of next year. For more interviews from MIP com 2025 and beyond, hit subscribe. Follow us on socials and check out the full slate of TellyCast episodes on YouTube or wherever you get the podcasts.