Siobhan Finneran

The hidden world of witness protection is fertile ground for programme-makers. “When I started work on Protection, I began to see how clandestine witness protection is,” says Kris Mrksa, lead writer on a new ITV six-part drama.

“I hadn’t grasped how completely witnesses cut ties and start over. And police officers need to hide their own identities ­– if criminals knew who they were, they could follow them to safe houses. That aspect made it feel like espionage; they were spies rather than cops.”

Creator Kris Mrksa has based the series on the first-hand experiences of a witness protection officer who served in the Met for 30 years; a job that is "darker, murkier and far more complex" than most of us realise, teases the synopsis.

Many protected people are themselves criminals, which means officers often have to morally compromise, and they have to actively distrust their own colleagues to maintain maximum secrecy.

The new series will not be a following on from the first, which starred Sean Bean and Stephen Graham as prisoner and guard, but will follow a new female-led storyline. Only Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley) will be reprising her role as Marie-Louise, the humane and compassionate prison chaplain.

Written by Jimmy McGovern (Broken), the first series of Time stars Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Boiling Point) and focuses on inmate Mark’s (Bean) life in prison after he accidentally kills an innocent man. Graham took the role of a prison guard trapped in a decision between his morals and his family's safety.

After a five-year hiatus, Wainwright has written six new episodes of the West Yorkshire set police drama, with Sarah Lancashire returning to her iconic role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood.

James Norton (McMafia) will reprise his role as Tommy Lee Royce, the murderer and sex-offender who assaulted Catherine’s daughter. Siobhan Finneran (Alma’s Not Normal) will also return as Catherine’s sister, the recovering addict Clare Cartwright.

Jimmy McGovern directed the three-part series, filmed in Liverpool, which sees Bean play the newly imprisoned criminal Mark Cobden, overwhelmed by guilt and his new volatile surroundings.

In prison, Mark meets Eric McNally (Graham), a principled prison officer ever striving to protect those in his charge. When one of the most notorious inmates identifies his weakness, Eric must choose between his principles and his family.

Leading the charge is Defending The Guilty a courtroom drama from Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo). Katherine Parkinson (Humans) plays Caroline, the cynical and experienced pupil master of Will (played by Flower's Will Sharpe), an idealistic pupil barrister. Will must navigate his way through the complexities of the justice system, to fight it out with several other hopeful contenders for a single job at the end of training. Expect cut-throat exploits and plenty of back-stabbing.

Finneran plays Cheshire housewife Nikki Kirkbright, who develops a close bond with David Marsden (Robert Bathhurst) through his job in personal finance.

Despite her luxurious lifestyle, there is more than meets the eye as it becomes apparent that Nikki's husband George (Robert Glenister) is not the man he seems. 

When secrets are revealed, will David be able to help Nikki escape, or will he get tangled up in the situation?