Whately, Blethyn in new ITV1 telefilm

Production has started in the UK on a 95-minute telefilm starring Kevin Whately and Brenda Blethyn, commissioned by ITV1 and is slated for the network’s winter schedules.

The Web of Belonging is penned by Alan Plater and based on the novel of the same name by Stevie Davies. Plater’s credits include BBC1’s Last of the Blonde Bombshells, A Very British Coup and The Beiderbeck Affair.

Belonging explores the love and sadness that accompanies marriage stars Whately (Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Inspector Morse) and Blethyn (Between The Sheets) as a husband and wife. Anna Massey (The Darling Buds of May) and Peter Sallis (Last of The Summer Wine) also star.

Set in the peaceful world of Shrewsbury, Blethyn plays a pillar of the community lives with her dependable husband Jacob (Whately) and has given up her job as a librarian to care for his ageing family relations.

However when Jacob goes out to the pub and never returns , her life soon starts to fall apart, and leaves her questioning the foundations on which she has built her life.

The film is produced by UK indie The Producers Films, the outfit behind Sarah Lancashire vehicle Seeing Red and The Politicians Wife (3×60′), a Channel 4 drama that starred Juliet Stevenson, Trevor Eve and Minnie Driver.