ITV, Adjoa Andoh to Protect & Serve with new crime drama

UK broadcaster ITV has commissioned a six-part crime drama Protect & Serve (working title), created by and starring Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Invictus).

Adjoa Andoh

Written by Helen Black (Joan, Time II) and produced by ITV Studios label Big Talk Studios, the series will start filming in early 2027. ITV Studios will distribute internationally.

Big Talk Studios CEO Kenton Allen exec produces with Andoh, Black, Chris Clough (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) and Jenny van der Lande (Too Close, Joan), who introduced and developed the drama. Nimer Rashed (Run Away, Missing You) will direct, while Stella Nwimo (Virdee, Three Little Birds) is set to produce.

Set in Leeds, the series explores the pressures faced by a detective (played by Andoh) juggling work, elderly parents and children. Alongside this, she is drawn into the national scandal of Britain’s unregulated children’s care homes, after a teenage boy living in one is shot.

Andoh’s character is described as “a woman of colour who has risen through the ranks in the police force and knows what it costs for her to stay there.”

ITV drama director Polly Hill, who commissioned the series, said: “I have been wanting to find a show with Adjoa Andoh for some time. We have a shared ambition, together with Big Talk, to make a great police series that also has something to say.

“Helen Black’s scripts uncover the scandal in privatised children’s care homes while [Andoh’s character] Araba lets us see what cost there is to becoming a high-ranking black policewoman. It’s a show we are very proud to be making for ITV with such a great team.”