A North East actress has landed the role of playing Raoul Moat's ex Samantha Stobbart in ITV's new true crime drama about the killer, which launched on Sunday night.
Shots of the cast on set surfaced last year, with ITV confirming that the shocking events of July 2010 would be turned into a primetime series by World Productions, the company behind hit BBC dramas Vigil, Bodyguard and Line of Duty.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat cast is led by Bodyguard actor Matt Stokoe as the killer, with Inspector George Gently favourite Lee Ingelby playing Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, the cop at the forefront of the huge search to track down Moat. And some else who takes an important part in the three part show is Sally Messham as Samantha.
READ MORE: Emmerdale star makes ITV return for 'dark' role in Raoul Moat drama
Just two days after his release from prison, Moat headed to former girlfriend Samantha's house in Birtley, shooting dead her new boyfriend Christopher Brown and leaving Samantha hospitalised, after also shooting at her.
The early part of The Hunt for Raoul Moat's first episode focuses on Samantha and Christopher's new romance, with the couple seen on a date on Newcastle Quayside, as Samantha began to fall for the karate instructor.
Sally was born in Teesside and has been in films like Our Girls, Aftersun and Artemis Fowl, as well as on TV in Doc Martin.
Talking about taking on the role of Samantha for the ITV series, Sally said: "I was intrigued as to how it had been written and the way they were going to approach it.
“As soon as I read Kevin Sampson’s scripts and spoke to the director Gareth Bryn, the fact this was a story about the victims reassured me. The shifting of the narrative. Really delving into these victims as three dimensional people rather than just faces next to a headline. Their stories needed to be told."
She added: “I knew we would be in safe hands with Kevin Sampson, who wrote the Hillsborough drama ‘Anne’, and World Productions. This drama also looks at the public’s fascination with this fugitive.
"Understanding their relationship to the police and authority. And it takes the power and hysteria away from the murderer.”
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