Viewers have heaped praise on Jed Mercurio‘s brand new thriller Payback as the first episode debuted on ITV on Wednesday night.
The latest series from the mind of Line Of Duty creator Jed sees Morven Christie leading the cast as Lexie Noble, who is left in deep trouble by her late husband Jared (Thoren Ferguson).
The drama sees the world of economic crime explored when Lexie discovers Jared – who she founded an accountancy firm with – has been keeping big secrets from her.
She discovers he had concealed his professional relationship with crime lord Cal Morris (Peter Mullan) and his dodgy dealings unfortunately place her at Cal’s mercy.
Cal is in the middle of a huge transaction when Jared is stabbed and killed in a seemingly random attack, and Lexie is forced to deal with the fallout as the crime boss is convinced she knows how to trace the money.
Gripping: Viewers have heaped praise on Jed Mercurio’s brand new thriller Payback as the first episode debuted on ITV on Wednesday night
Cal was trying to to direct dirty cash to the purchase of a fictional Scottish island Eris for £2.5million and fraud squad officers believe they can arrest him once he’s tabled his offer at an online auction, but the money then goes astray and Jared is murdered.
The first episode sees Lexie discover the depths of Jared’s secrets as the police have her house under audio surveillance and her martial assets are frozen, leaving her at Cal’s mercy.
And viewers were left on the edges of their seats as they tried to piece together the action in the debut episode and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts.
Praising the show, one wrote: ‘Just watched the first episode of Payback on b***dy good it is. Going to get deep.’
Another said: ‘This looks promising #Payback Tense 1st episode. Roll on episode 2,’ a third tweeted: ‘What a fantastic first episode. What a spiders web that is going on.’
A fourth penned: ‘Well that was a fantastic 1st episode I’m gripped already!’ and another added: ‘That was good. Great cast.’
Viewers were also left with questions as a mystery surrounding passports was left hanging as the drama amps up ahead of the second episode next Wednesday.
As the series progresses, Lexie will find herself caught between Cal, who promises to find out who killed her husband if she can get his money back, and the police, who want to bring the gangster to justice with Lexie’s help.
Payback, made by Jed’s HTM production company, explores the murky world of dirty money and grew out of discussions between Jed and writer Debbie O’Malley.
Tense: The drama sees Morven Christie leading the cast as Lexie Noble, who is left at the mercy of crime lord Cal Morris (Peter Mullan, pictured) because of her late partner’s actions
Nail-biting: And viewers were left on the edges of their seats as they tried to piece together the action in the debut episode and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts
Dilemma: Lexie will find herself caught between Cal, who promises to find out who killed her husband if she can get his money, and the police, who want to bring the gangster to justice
Ahead of the show’s release, Debbie told the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine: ‘Jed wanted to make a drama about an everyman – or everywoman as it’s turned out – who gets drawn into a world of organised crime, and the officers who investigate it.
‘It’s about the world of dirty money when it butts up against the legitimate world of finance and how people like Cal try to tread that line between the two.’
Morven Christie (Lexie) admitted she has been the victim of online fraud and is aware of how large sums of money can vanish into the ether.
‘I think it’s timely to shine a light on cyber crime because the police have said it’s been the most common crime in the UK for close on a decade,’ she said. ‘It’s truly frightening.’
Peter Mullan, who plays crime lord Cal, added: ‘The losses people incur online can be vast and sometimes heartbreaking. My heart goes out to them, it’s tragic.’
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