A case like NO OTHER

MARK BONNAR and NEIL MASKELL on playing tenacious cops in a factual drama about the man who solved his own murder

- SEANMARLAND

LITVINENKO
MON-THU. 9PM. ITV1 DRAMA (BOX SET. ITVX)

The image of Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbed in November 2006 remains etched in many people’s memories.

The former Russian spy, known as Sasha, was found in declining health at University College Hospital in London as a result of a radioactive substance being put into his drink at a Mayfair hotel – an attack he claimed was on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now, ITV1’s new true-crime drama Litvinenko will explore the story of the dogged cops, including Det Supt Clive Timmons (Shetland’s Mark Bonnar) and DI Brent Hyatt (Peaky Blinders’ Neil Maskell), who conducted a series of bedside interviews with Sasha (portrayed by Doctor Who’s David Tennant), triggering one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police.

The four-part drama, which debuted on ITVX last December, also focuses on Sasha’s widow, Marina (The Blacklist’s Margarita Levieva), who fought to persuade the British Government to publicly name her husband’s killers.

Here, Mark and Neil tell us what it was like stepping into the shoes of officers determined to give a dying man justice…

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