UNTIL I KILL YOU. sun to wed ITV 9pm - TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Until I Kill You sees two of TV's favourite actors come together to portray real life victim and abuser Delia Balmer and John Sweeney in the cast of the ITV drama.

Agency nurse Delia Balmer meets John Sweeney who confesses to killing his ex-girlfriend and attacks her before evading capture;

Balmer rebuilds her life to confront Sweeney seven years later, after he was arrested for another murder.

Ludwig (tvg-frontend-cem4ngzag-digitalbox.vercel.app/streaming-guide/ludwig-series-2-return-series-1-ending-explained-bbc-one-iplayer) star Anna Maxwell portrays Delia, who survived a near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney, played by Shaun Evans.

The new four-part drama airs from Sunday, November 03, to Wednesday, November 06, 2024 at 9pm.

It's followed by the companion documentary Until I Kill You: The Real Story on Thursday, November 07, 2024 at 9pm.

So who is in the cast of Until I Kill You on ITV? Who plays who in the ITV crime drama? Here's everything you need to know...

Actress Anna Maxwell Martin as Delia Balmer in the cast of Until I Kill You (Credit: ITV)
Who plays Delia Balmer in the cast of Until I Kill You?
BAFTA-winning actress Anna Maxwell Martin, 47, portrays real life victim Delia Balmer in the cast of Until I Kill You on ITV.

Of course, Anna is a hugely popular TV actress - and with good reason. She is much loved for her role in Motherland, playing the perpetually harassed mother of two Julia.

Actor Shaun Evans plays John Sweeney in the cast of Until I Kill You.

Like co-star Anna, Shaun is a well known to TV audiences.

The 44-year-old came to fame playing John Paul Keating in the Channel 4 comedy Teachers, opposite Andrew Lincoln and Navin Chowdhry.
Liverpool-born Shaun then went on to appear in Whitechapel, and Silk, before appearing as Glover in series one of Vigil in 2021.

Kevin Doyle portrays David
Downton Abbey actor Kevin Doyle, 64, stars as David, who provides support for Delia throughout the court case against John.

Lincolnshire-born Kevin has been on our TV screens for four decades, and he's been on some of the best TV shows - including The Lakes, Downton Abbey, and Sherwood.

More recently, he's played Fred Rowley in Sherwood (tvg-frontend-cem4ngzag-digitalbox.vercel.app/streaming-guide/sherwood-series-2-ending-explained-recap-ann-branson-fate-tense-finale-episode-six), and Ronnie Browne in Vera.

Actor Steve Edge, 51, plays DS Collins in the cast of Until I Kill You on ITV.

Steve is perhaps most famous for his roles in Benidorm, Scarborough and Phoenix Nights.
He's also well liked as Dom Hayes in The Madame Blanc Mysteries, a role he's played ever since 2021.

Who else appears in the cast of Until I Kill You on ITV?

Matthew Aubrey stars as DC Flynn. The Welsh actor is known for playing Private Davies in Privates, Aled Williams in The Indian Doctor, and Mike Taylor in Keeping Faith.

Finding Alice's Amanda Wilkin plays Leah. She's also starred as Jo in Spent, and Suzie in Am I Being Unreasonable?

Dutch actress Sallie Harmsen stars as Astrid De Vries. She's best known for her roles in Sphinx, Legacy, and Van der Valk.

Lucy Thackeray as WPC Jane Barker. She's played Prue Stanton in Call the Midwife, and Linda in Black Ops.

Laura Morgan as DC Christine Webb. She's famous for playing Soldier in Culprits, Becky in Clink, and Maggie Cotton in Dark Angel.

Stephanie Street - aka Nadia in 20 Things to Do Before You're 30 - stars as Janice Rainsworth.
Spooks' Geoffrey Streatfeild plays DI Steve Smith.

Until I Kill You airs from Sunday, November 03, 2024 on ITV1 and ITVX.

I really disliked her at first. As it progressed I felt much different.

She was lucky to have such a beautiful friend. I hope that was all true.

I think part of the point is why do we feel someone needs to/should be likeable.
She wasn't likeable, she behaved terribly in court, she was awful to her new partner... and how that affects our view of her as a victim.

I think she felt so let down so I understand her actions but at the same time, I really don’t. Staying in the same flat, same furniture etc. I didn’t like the way she was in court, that wasn’t great

I did like at the end when it said in memory of Melissa and Paula. A very nice touch

The bloody defence lawyer describing her kidnapping and rape as part of a sado masochistic relationship FFS.

This is why that Scottish rape referral centre boss being shacked up with the Sex People academic who writes about BDSM is so disrespectful

This is the thing. Generally fictional dramas make us warm to the victim, they want us to root for them; etc. The reality of things is that sometimes horrible things happen to people who aren’t “perfect” and we find that uncomfortable. But it’s a truth we should confront because it can often influence a jury’s decision, unfairly.

I have autism and I see much of myself in Delia. I do wonder if she has ever explored an autism diagnosis- obviously I’m just basing that on what we’ve seen in the programme and that’s unfair of me perhaps. And of course all the trauma she’s suffered is going to affect her behaviour etc too. I think the still wanting to sleep on the same bed etc is her way of taking back some control over the situation.

They did this in a more recent case where a young British backpacker was strangled to death by some disgusting murderous beast she met on Tinder. His entire defence was based upon her sexual fetish ( which she didn't have).

It's quite a common trope used by killers. "Sex game gone wrong"

https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/until-i-kill-you-where-is-delia-balmer-now/

Very harrowing for Delia Balmer to go through but she was a strong woman, yes, broken initially but her strength saw her through for her to become a survivor, although I'm not sure she sees herself as this.

What came to the fore for me is the fact woman have a refuge, a safe place, a sanctuary, with safety measures in place, for the sole purpose to protect yourself from someone who is hell bent on destroying you.

It just made me more aware to see it played out like that...bars on the windows so there is no chance of entry... absolutely terrifying.

THIS

I watched the documentary. Tbh I would have liked to hear more about Delia and more in detail about how the police treated her but perhaps the programme makers felt she couldn't cope with it. She says he ruined her life but she actually has lived a very full life since then. She got a whole new career and continues to travel and dance. She is quite an inspiration.

I will watch the documentary tonight

I know it's on ITVX. I just hate the adverts

I hope whoever made the naive and disastrous decision (presumably a judge) to release a dangerous criminal into the community was brought to account and that the episode severely impacted their career and reputation. Somehow, I doubt it...

I doubt it as well

Yeah, she didn't come across as likeable, and wasn't/isn't easy going, and she probably isn't in real life. Doesn't mean she doesn't deserve friends and love and happiness though ... (Not aimed at you @MichaelAndEagle I am just saying in general, as quite a few posters have said she was aloof, difficult and not easy to like.)

I think (as a number of posters have said,) that she is ND. And she really does need and deserve love and friendship. I bet she does have a soft, loving side, but she has not had a chance to display it, as she doesn't seem to have made many friends or had many partners.

She is one of the strongest people I have ever seen though. Incredible woman, and I am also disgusted at how long the Police took to catch her attacker, and how 4 life sentences became parole at 9 years!

I do believe though that if Delia had been a fluffy blonde angel who was sweet and demure, the treatment from the police would h5ve been different. She was aloof and angry a lot, but I can see why she was some of the time.

Also, she perhaps acted tough, because she was alone. No family for 4000-5000 miles. Travelling and moving about and emigrating is all well and good, but it bites you on the arse when you've got no family in your own country.

A woman I know (Lisa) had her parents (both late 50s then,) move to Portugal 7 years ago (when she and her sister were mid-late 20s.) Her sister lives 400 miles north in Scotland. Lisa had a baby with a man she had been with for 2 years in mid March 2020, and when the baby was a week old, the father of the baby legged it, and she didn't even know where he was.

So she was alone with a newborn, just one sister 400 miles away, and her parents 1500 miles away in a different country. Then covid hit, and she was 100% alone with a newborn virtually for the first year of their life. She didn't see her parents for 15 months/they didn't see their grandchild for 15 months.

The sister visited a couple of times during 2020 but it was very hard because of covid. Even now - the child is 4 and a half - she has NO family support. Parents still 1500 miles away. Sister 400 miles away. She sees her parents for 14 to 21 days out of any given year (2-3 weeks.) And her sister every 3 months for a few days.) I can't imagine leaving my daughter to struggle on her own.. I would have come back as soon as possible if I had been them, and I can't fathom why they stayed in Portugal. JMO.

But yeah tl;dr, I think Delia felt alone in the world, (And some people have let her down/treated her bad,) and she has built up a massive wall that no-one could/can get past. That's why she is so seemingly cold and aloof and grumpy. Let no-one in, they can't hurt you.

She's completely likeable to me.

Id be her pal if she's desperate.

We endured the first episode and about 10 minutes of the second before we agreed we'd had enough. It was just SO dull and boring. Slow dialogue and action and the dreary flat that never seemed to see the light of day. I don't know if it was the writing, directing or producing that was at fault but I thought it was awful.

Sorry, did you want more slashing of throats? Maybe a pistol shoot out.

Have some respect, it's a story based very closely on someone's actual life.

I'm well aware of that thank you. I found it dull - my opinion which I believe I'm entitled to give on a forum 🤔

Maybe have a little introspection on why you found a story of murder and attempted murder, dull.

I've watched loads of true crime programmes but this one just didn't hold my interest.

I didn't find it dull and boring at all , thought it was a programme that drew me in .
To me, she was unlikable but very vulnerable, she thought she wasn't worthy of anyone , and this showed even before she met Sweeney . She turned people away deliberately as it was a barrier around her .

I'll be watching the documentary as I'll be interested to see the real Delia . I hope she has now found some peace .

You did better than me, I switched off after about 15 minutes of the first episode. For me it was too slow, it really wasn't very interesting and I thought it was not that well written either. I also can never understood why people rave about Anna Maxwell Martin.

I watch crime dramas and thrillers all the time but this wasn't one for me.

There's one thing I still don't understand - maybe someone knows the answer? Towards the end of episode 2, the female Dutch detective is talking on the phone to a forensic lab about a report indicating that there is no match between a DNA sample provided by Melissa's family and the body in the suitcase. The detective is convinced the report is wrong, but the lab is adamant that the result is correct. However, it turns out that Melissa's body was identified years later by cross-checking against family DNA - so what was that earlier scene all about? There was never any explanation as to why the DNA didn't match up the first time. Confused.