‘Payback’ EP Teases Bookkeeper Thriller That’ll Keep You ‘on the Edge’ of Your Seat

When it comes to intrigue and drama, bookkeepers don’t instantly spring to mind. But Payback, the latest series from the team behind the monster hit Line of Duty, centers on a widow, Lexie Noble (Grant­chester’s Morven Christie, above), who learns her just-murdered husband—an accountant—was mixed up with the Scottish underworld.

“[Her] life implodes overnight after she discovers the life she has been living has possibly been funded by dirty money,” executive producer Madonna Baptiste says. She calls the six-episode tale a “thriller seen through the eyes of an ordinary woman thrown into an extraordinarily dangerous world.”

Indeed, an impatient crime boss (Peter Mullan, Ozark) threatens her family, demanding she find the millions her husband apparently embezzled. But the mom of two is reluctant to go to the police, who suspect her of killing her spouse.

According to Baptiste, writer Debbie O’Malley (All Creatures Great and Small) “was surprised to find out how much of our global economy is funded from illegal sources” and presents financial crime in a way that will put viewers “on the edge of their seat.” Not unlike getting your taxes done.

Payback, Series Premiere Thursday, October 19, Britbox

This is an excerpt from TV Insider‘s October issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.