Three men who’ve never met; three lives inextricably linked by a shocking triple murder, and a manhunt which spans three decades.

He Kills Coppers Jake Arnott’s epic follow up to The Long Firm, is a major new thriller for ITV1 featuring a stellar cast including Rafe Spall (A Room with a View, Hot Fuzz, Dracula), Kelly Reilly (Puffball, Mrs Henderson Presents, Pride & Prejudice) and Maureen Lipman (Dr Who, The Pianist). The three part adaptation by Ed Whitmore (Hallam Foe, Waking The Dead) is produced by David Boulter (Prime Suspect 6, The Forsyte Saga) for award-winning Ecosse Films (Mrs Brown, Becoming Jane, My Boy Jack) and directed by Adrian Shergold (Clapham Junction, Persuasion, Low Winter Sun).

August 1966: the long hot summer of World Cup euphoria is suddenly shattered by the brutal slaying of three policemen. The fates of a detective, a journalist and a villain are irrevocably bound up with this shocking event.

For Frank Taylor (Rafe Spall), a Detective Sergeant on the Met’s fast track and a man on the take, it’s the death of his best friend which must be avenged. It is also a moment for which he will endure a lifetime of guilt; a death which might have been avoided had Frank not been so concerned with the advancement of his own career.

For Tony Meehan (Steven Robertson), an aspiring and ambitious journalist on The Daily Illustrated and the first reporter on the scene, it is more than a career making front page scoop; the slaughter he witnesses awakens a violent impulse within him and finding the perpetrator becomes an all-consuming twenty year obsession.

For Billy Porter (Mel Raido), war-time hero turned petty thief, it’s a plan that went fatally wrong; a gratuitous act of violence from which he must spend two decades running.

He Kills Coppers opens in ‘60s gangland Soho and concludes in the Thatcherite 80’s. A tale about the pervasiveness of corruption and the nature of obsession, this major three part drama explores how the consequences of one single act of brutality reverberate across two decades and reveals a creeping decay at the heart of society.

He Kills Coppers is commissioned by ITV Director of Drama Laura Mackie and is executive produced by Douglas Rae for Ecosse Films.

Laura Mackie says: “Ed Whitmore’s adaptation of Jake Arnott’s provocative and epic novel brilliantly captures the changing face of London from the gangland stranglehold on the world of vice in the 60s to the greedy capitalism of the Thatcherite era in the 80s. It is a passionate and moving story which charts the journeys of three men whose lives are thrown together by one act of violence.

Douglas Rae says: “Rafe Spall & Kelly Reilly are two of the most talented actors of their generation. This will be a great thriller for the ITV audience.”

Jake Arnott says: “I thought that the dramatisation of The Long Firm would be a hard act to follow, but this is a tremendous adaptation of my second novel. The casting is incredibly exciting and I look forward to seeing how they portray these characters on screen.”

David Boulter says: “This is set to be a visceral treat; a Jake Arnott thriller that plays over three decades and defines the eras it moves through.”