Rose Ayling-Ellis, who played Frankie Lewis in EastEnders, became a household name after winning Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first deaf contestant. Fresh from presenting the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, now she is breaking more ground in a fascinating lead role: a deaf canteen worker whose lip-reading skills draw her into a high-stakes police investigation.

Catherine Moulton based the six-part series on her personal experiences with hearing loss and lip-reading. Building deaf representation into the narrative, Moulton’s drama follows Alison Brooks (Ayling-Ellis), who is busy working two service jobs to support her deaf mum Julie (Fifi Garfield).

One of these jobs is serving the police in their canteen, which is where she meets DS Ashleigh Francis (Charlotte Ritchie, best known for accommodating a gaggle of needy phantoms in Ghosts). DS Francis is monitoring a notorious gang, and could do with her particular set of skills.

Alison’s lip-readings quickly become central to the case, and she’s thrown into the deep end of criminal surveillance.

It’s an exhilarating new job, but it’s made even harder when she finds herself falling for one of the suspects, Liam Bayne (Kieron Moore).

ITV has also announced the rest of the cast, including Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch) as DI James Marsh. Nathan Armarkwei Laryea (The Witcher), Joe Absolom (Doc Martin), Beth Goddard (The Serpent Queen), Andrew Scarborough (Emmerdale), presenter Rolf Choutan, who is making his acting debut, and Fifi Garfield (Coffee Morning Club) will also appear.

Diarmuid Goggins (Kin), will serve as lead director for the series, while Chanya Button (Dr Who) will direct the latter half.

Code of Silence will premiere on ITV1 and stream on ITVX.