ITV The Blame: Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth reveal the ‘dark’ reality of filming new TV thriller

Filming ITV’s intense new detective drama, The Blame, took Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth to some “dark” places.The pacy six-part ITV series, based on Charlotte Langley’s 2023 thriller of the same name, stars Fool Me Once actor Keegan, 39, and Great Expectations actor Booth, 34. They play DI Emma Crane and DI Tom Radley, longstanding friends investigating the murder of a teenage figure-skater in the fictional town of Wakestead.

The case is not as clear-cut as it first seems. As Emma and Tom dig deeper, they uncover lies, institutional cover-ups and corruption. They also grapple with toxic workplace misogyny, confront their feelings for each other and question everything.

“It does get very dark,” says Stockport-born Keegan, who spent six years playing Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street. “But we had lots of light moments in there as well, which was nice – we had fun.”

Although it was their first time working together, they instantly had “each other’s backs” on set. London-born Booth, whose breakthrough came portraying a young Boy George in the 2010 TV movie Worried About The Boy, calls Keegan “a joy to work with”. He says their “easy chemistry” helped them find their groove because Emma and Tom also support each other throughout the series.

Keegan says the fast-paced script and its ending drew her to the project. She believes The Blame differs from other police dramas through its hard-hitting treatment of corruption, misogyny and “lad banter” within the police. Booth similarly says he has not seen another drama examine the police in this way. She recalls reading it and repeatedly wondering what would happen next, before reaching an ending she “couldn’t quite believe” and thought was brilliant.

He says such language can be treated as acceptable, with women also joining in, but can create an extremely toxic environment, rot an institution “from the core” and make it dangerous.Keegan’s father joined the police at 17, but remained private about his work and guarded when she asked questions. He told her the lad culture and banter were similar then, when people took it “on the chin” and did not discuss it.

Booth describes Tom as “a coward” who would rather protect his career. He finds the character’s grey areas interesting: Tom is a good person who has tried to do the right thing, but keeping his head down can make him complicit. Booth hopes to question how his own place in a system could add to its toxicity or unhealthiness.

Keegan relates to Emma through working in a male-dominated industry and enjoying banter. However, she says she is not as confident about speaking out, as outspoken or as “black-and-white” as Emma.

Some scenes were tense and emotional. Keegan says one scene near the end was filmed over two days and left her drained. Booth says those scenes are often the most fun, while Keegan says having time to work on them allowed the actors to experiment with different approaches.

The Blame starts on ITV1 and ITVX on September 20.