There’s nothing better than a new series to kick off on a Bank Holiday Monday, and Virgin Media One have most certainly delivered.
This coming Monday sees the start of CHEAT, a psychological adventure billed as a ‘gripping thriller that explores how far we’re prepared to go to stand up for what we believe is right’.
Running for four nights – from Monday March 18 with the finale on Thursday 21 – the series centres around Dr Leah Dale, played by award-winning actress Katherine Kelly, a lecturer inspiring some of the brightest minds.
After an undergraduate, Rose Vaughan (Molly Windsor), submits an essay that’s suspiciously top grade, Leah calls her out – and what seems like an open and shut case soon spirals out of control.
Leah becomes consumed with exposing Rose as a cheat, causing tension at home and in her career. Soon before long, Rose pursues a course of retaliation against her professor, before a devastating development causes tension for both women, and their home lives.
With a number of twists and turns, the series (directed by Louise Hooper) is packed full of startling twists and turns along the way.
Katherine Kelly, who plays Dr Leah Dale, says that she believes CHEAT is a satisfying watch, and that the scripts were some of the best she’d read.
“It had been a long time since I’d read such a page turner. Gaby Hull [writer of the series] is a great storyteller. CHEAT has all the hallmarks of a good thriller, but the twists and turns don’t land where you expect them.”
Speaking about how the series came to fruition, writer Gaby Hull said that cheating proved to be an interesting way to enter a story: “On a personal level, I have friends and family who are academics.
“One of them told me about this incident when they were sure this person was cheating, but they couldn’t do anything about it because ghost-writing services are so sophisticated. There’s no definite way of proving they cheated. It just struck me as a very interesting way into a story.”
Hull says she wanted the audience to be kept in suspense throughout the four part series: “It’s a psychological thriller so we wanted it to be an exciting story with suspense. But we also wanted it to be a relationship drama which explores themes of family and love, and in the way which our closest relationships form and de-form our characters and personalities and who we are.”
CHEAT will air on Virgin Media One from Monday, March 18 until Wednesday 20 March at 10pm, with the final episode airing at 9pm on Thursday March 21.
