Everything You Need To Know About ITV’s Until I Kill You

Anna Maxwell Martin is Delia Balmer in ITV’s new gripping crime drama, kicking off this weekend. Until I Kill You centres on a nurse named Delia Balmer who finds herself wrapped up in a relationship that turns out to be deadly… Here’s what you need to know.

ANNA MAXWELL-MARTIN as Delia Balmer and SHAUN EVANS as John Sweeney in Until I Kill You. (ITV)

Is Until I Kill You Based On A True Story?

Yes, Until I Kill You is based on the true story of Delia Balmer, who survived a relationship with the now convicted murderer John Sweeney. The ITV drama is based on the book Delia wrote chronicling her harrowing experience, titled Living With A Serial Killer.

When they first met in 1991, Delia was a nurse and Sweeney was a caring and compelling artist and carpenter working in a pub in Camden. But their romance soon descended into violence and controlling behaviour. As her fear of her partner grew, three years into their relationship, Delia found a ‘kill kit’ under their shared bed – a bed to which Sweeney would later tie her and torture her. It contained rope, tape and gloves, which Sweeney used to hold Delia captive for four days after she ended their relationship, repeatedly raping her and eventually attempting to kill her with a wooden axe. In fact, Sweeney held Delia hostage and tortured her on multiple occasions, and also told Delia he had murdered his previous girlfriend.

On one occasion, Sweeney assaulted Delia so viciously, he was arrested. But then, released on bail, Delia feared he would come back to finish her off. After a final frenzied attack in 1994, Sweeney left Delia for dead and went on the run. Delia narrowly survived, but it would take police a further six years to capture and convict Sweeney for his attack.

Also known as the canal murderer, Sweeney was born in Skelmersdale and gained his notorious nickname after dumping his victims’ bodies in water, from a canal in Rotterdam to London’s Regent’s Canal. After leaving Delia for dead, Sweeney would proceed to murder another girlfriend, chopping her body into more than a dozen pieces. But after six years on the run, he was given four life sentences for attempting to murder Delia. While he was in prison, two of his murders finally came to light: Paula Fields and Melissa Halstead.

There are at least three more women known to have been in a relationship with Sweeney at some point who have not been tracked down by police; they too are feared to have been killed by Sweeney.

‘A few months after reading Living with a Serial Killer, I had my first meeting with Delia Balmer,’ the creator of Until I Kill You, Nick Stevens, told ITV. Nick decided to adapt Delia’s story for the screen after reading her memoir Living With A Serial Killer. ‘She was unlike anybody I’d ever met before. Still suffering from PTSD ten-plus years after John Sweeney’s conviction, Delia is, though she would never admit it, a hero. A survivor whose determination to pursue the good in life – to dance, to travel, to live – is ultimately greater than her demons. I am hugely grateful to Delia, and the police who worked with her to finally secure Sweeney’s conviction, for enabling us to tell Delia’s incredible story.’

SHAUN EVANS as John Sweeney in Until I Kill You. (ITV)

The Cast

• Anna Maxwell Martin as Delia Balmer
• Shaun Evans as John Sweeney
• Kevin Doyle
• Jack Franklin as Joshua Wilson
• Simon Harrison as Glenn Saunders
• Clare Foster as Eloise Chapman
• Stephanie Street as Janice Rainsworth
• Renu Brindle as Sister Tessa Waller

How To Watch Until I Kill You

The first episode of Until I Kill You will air on ITVX on Sunday 3 November at 9pm, and then air nightly for three more nights. Episodes will also be available to stream on ITVX.

How Many Episodes?

This limited series is made up of just four episodes.