What do you get when you combine Jed Mercurio and a brilliantly twisty crime story? The new Line of Duty, of course – or at least that’s what fans have called it. Payback is the outstanding ITV crime drama that introduces us to mum-of-two Lexie Noble (Morven Christie) who finds herself finds herself caught between a lying husband and a perilous police operation - and the good news is you can watch it tonight.
The series, which first aired in 2023, takes us to Edinburgh where Lexie appears to have the perfect family life - an adoring husband and two gorgeous kids. But while Lexie has been going about her days as a stay-at-home mum, her husband has, in fact, been laundering crime lord Cal Morris' illegal earnings. Now, her husband is dead and Lexie is about to find herself in the line of danger herself.
With the series available to watch on ITV tonight (or now, if you wish), here's everything you need to know about Payback, including the full plot, cast and how to watch it.
What is Payback about?
Created by Debbie O'Malley and executive produced by Jed Mercurio, the six-part series follows Lexie Noble (Morven Christie), a stay-at-home mum-of-two who has an idyllic family lifestyle in the suburbs of Edinburgh. Or so she thinks. She's been at home since she had her daughter, who's now six, and is about to return to work at the accountancy firm she shares with her husband Jared (Thoren Ferguson). Everything changes, however, when Jared is killed in a seemingly random street attack.
What Lexie didn’t know is that Jared had been laundering notorious crime lord Cal Morris’ (Peter Mullan) illegal earnings on a vast scale, and Jared’s every move was being monitored by financial investigators DC Jibran Khan (Prasanna Puwanarajah) and DCI Adam Guthrie (Derek Riddell). She now finds herself entangled in a perilous police operation to topple Cal, with the police determined to use the Noble family to bring him to justice.
Over the course of the series episodes, Lexie is forced into working for Cal, at the same time as the police net tightens. And soon, Lexie finds herself walking a treacherous tightrope between Cal and the police in which her safety - and even her life - are in serious danger.
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Morven Christie, who plays Lexie, told ITV about her character’s mixed reaction to the news that her partner had essentially been living a double life. “I think she's had some suspicions that he's had secrets. If you're in a relationship with someone and you think they're keeping secrets from you, it's fairly likely that you're going to assume that those secrets involve someone else - like they're having a relationship with someone,” she said.
“When she does actually find out what he's been doing, she's got this weird animalistic sort of quality where on the one hand she's furious at him but on the other she's wildly protective of him on the basis that there's nothing that he would do that wasn't to protect his family. She fundamentally believes that he had their best interests at heart but at the same time her children's lives are being threatened, so she's not loving it.”
Executive Producer Jed Mercurio added that what makes the series unique is the element of financial crime: “One of the things that I think makes it really distinctive is that there's a storyline about financial crime, which is quite unusual in TV thrillers but what Debbie has done brilliantly is to make it very understandable.
“Also, it always relates back to the stakes of the story, which is that Lexie Noble is caught between a very dangerous organised crime gang led by Peter Mullan's character and a police organisation that are desperate to bring down his empire. Lexie is caught in the crossfire of that and however complicated the financial side of things gets we always circle back to that in a very visceral and easy-to-follow way.”
Who’s in the cast of Payback?
The cast of Payback includes:
- Morven Christie (The Bay) as Lexie Noble
- Peter Mullan (The Lord of the Rings) as Cal Norris
- Prasanna Puwanarajah (Ten Percent) as DC Jibran Khan
- Derek Riddell (Frankie) as as DCI Adam Guthrie
- Steven Mackintosh (Wanderlust) as Malky Roberts
- Jack Greenless (Stonemouth) as Aaron Morris
- Eileen Duffy (Sister, Sister) as Doris Szabo
- Andi Osho (Blue Lights) as DI Jean Royce
- Steven Miller (Casualty) as DS Rob Livingston
- Julie Graham (This City is Ours) as Connie Morris
- Henry Pettigrew (Guilt) as Rufus Hayes
- Anneika Rose (Deadwater Fell) as Rowena Hayes
- Grace Chilton (World on Fire) as DC Alice Hardys
Is there a trailer for Payback?
Yes, you can watch the trailer fir Payback below.
Is Payback any good?
Yes – if you enjoy a high-stakes series with unexpected twists, you’ll find plenty of them in Payback. When it first aired in 2023, fans rightly compared it to Line of Duty as it’s just as pacy, perfectly-cast and brilliantly plotted. Our only complaint is that there’s only one series to watch and a second is yet to be commissioned.
How can I watch Payback?
All six episodes of Payback are available to watch now on ITVX.
What other crime dramas can I watch now?
For a glorious Scottish setting and slow-burn mysteries, we’d recommend Hinterland. The series revolves around tormented detective Tom Mathias (Richard Harrington), who leaves London for Aberystwyth for a new beginning. But before he's even had a chance to unpack, he’s called to the scene of an attack in the sand dunes. You can watch Hinterland now on BBC iPlayer. For something more recent, we’d suggest This City is Ours. Sean Bean is absolutely brilliant as ruthless gang leader Ronnie Phelan, whose impending retirement sets off a series of catastrophic events. You can watch the first series of This City is Ours on BBC iPlayer, with a second series expected to premiere later this year.
