Justice for Banaz

Keeley Hawes on starring in a drama based on the true story of a shocking ‘honour killing’

- STEVEN PERKINS

When DCI Caroline Goode began searching for missing Banaz Mahmod in January 2006, she hoped her team would find the 20-year-old Londoner alive.

However, during her investigation, she was shocked to learn that Banaz had made five reports to police stating her family were planning to kill her – all of which had been ignored.

Banaz had told officers that relatives believed she had brought shame upon the family by ending an abusive arranged marriage and falling in love with someone new.

Three months after she was reported missing by her boyfriend, Rahmat Suleimani, Banaz’s body was found in a suitcase in the West Midlands, miles from where she lived in south-west London.

Thanks to the dedication and persistence of Caroline and her team, Banaz’s father and uncle, who ordered her murder, along with two of her cousins and another man, were later convicted and jailed.

The investigation into this 2006 ‘ honor killing’ is dramatized in ITV’s new two-part factual drama Honour, written by Gwyneth Hughes (Vanity Fair) and starring Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty) as DCI Caroline Goode.

At a recent press event, where Keeley, 44, spoke alongside members of the Honour production team, the actor explained why telling this story is so important to her…

What drew you to the role?