Litvinenko follows the story of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko (Picture: ITV)
There’s no doubt you’ve already heard about the upcoming ITVX mini-series Litvinenko, which stars Doctor Who’s David Tennant as the former Russian spy who was poisoned in London in 2006.
The four-part TV drama will re-tell the extraordinary event, as well as the decade-long fight for justice that started soon after his death.
In November 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, lay dying in hospital after being exposed to a mysterious radioactive substance.
Telling police that he knew who was responsible, his claims became even more explosive when he declared he had been targeted by the Russian President himself, Vladimir Putin.
After he died and the deadly substance was discovered, it sparked an investigation into a chemical attack on the streets of the English capital and to find out just what happened.
With the full support of the Litvinenko family and the Met Police, the series’ writer George Kay was given what he called ‘amazing access’ to the people at the centre of the case, including the 18 hours’ worth of deathbed statements that Litvinenko gave to police as he lay dying.
Interviewing ‘pretty much everyone’ who is a real character in the drama, Kay said most of the main players we will see in the series are real-life people who were also consulted.
‘We met with them and we talked with them and had their backing. Everyone was really wanting to talk,’ he said.
You might remember their names, but here are the people who will be featured in the series, and by who.
Litvinenko (David Tennant) left behind a widow, Marina (played by Margarita Levieva) in the series (Picture: ITV)
When is David Tennant’s Litvinenko drama out?
Litvinenko will be released on Thursday December 15 on the new streaming service ITVX.
The series will be free to watch, with all four episodes being released at once.
The same night, ITV will air a one-hour film detailing the events surrounding the assassination of Litvinenko, titled The Mayfair Poisonings.
It is being billed as ‘the real story of not just a murder inquiry, but also a radiation health emergency that shocked the world, told by the people that were actually there’.
The discovery of the radioactive substance sparked concerns others could also be at risk (Picture: ITV)
How to watch?
As of December 8, ITVX has replaced the ITV Hub and will see a new show released every single week, usually months in advance of when it airs on television.
While there is a premium service offering ad-free programmes that will cost £5.99 a month or £59.99 annually, it can be also be used for free.
You can access it by visiting itv.com, and it will also be available to download as an app on most devices.
Marina spent more than a decade fighting for justice after her husband’s death (Picture: ITV)
Who else is in the cast?
Marina Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko’s widow, is played in the series by Russian-American actress Margarita Levieva, best known for her roles in TV shows like Revenge and The Blacklist.
When speaking about taking on the role recently, she admitted she had been ‘scared’.
‘I remember asking my family (and friends) because I’m from Russia… if I’m making a mistake taking this on, knowing what the president (Putin) is capable of, knowing what it would mean for me to portray her but I just felt like the story was too important,’ she said.
But she added: ‘The honour and the privilege of being able to tell it was really important to me.’
Litvinenko also had a son, Anatoly, who is played by Temirlan Blaev (Picture: ITV)
Litvinenko had three children, including a son with his second wife Marina.
Anatoly was just 12 years old when his father was murdered but, like his mother, he has spoken out about what happened publicly to make sure his father’s death is not forgotten.
In previous interviews Anatoly had said his father was trying to ‘make Russia a better place’.
He is played by Temirlan Blaev in the series.
DI Brent Hyatt (Neil Maskell) helped take Litvinenko’s deathbed statements (Picture: ITV)
Metropolitan Police officer Detective Inspector Brent Hyatt took the statements from Litvinenko while he was in hospital dying.
Over three days in University College Hospital, Hyatt helped document just what had happened when Litvinenko had been poisoned.
During an inquiry in 2015, Hyatt said that Litvinenko’s health had ‘very clearly’ deteriorated during the days of police interviews.
He is played by Neil Maskell.
DS Clive Timmons (Mark Bonnar) lead Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorist command (Picture: ITV)
Mark Bonnar plays Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Clive Timmons, who was tasked with leading the investigation.
In a 2017 documentary Timmons spoke about that infamous photo of Litvinenko in his hospital bed.
‘It doesn’t capture the incredible suffering that he was in,’ he shared.
‘It doesn’t capture the fact his throat was all blistered and he couldn’t swallow or he could hardly talk.
‘He was in diabolical pain.’
Boris Berezovsky (Nikolai Tsankov) a friend of Litvinenko’s, found himself caught up in the case (Picture: ITV)
A close friend of Litvinenko, Boris Berezovsky (played by Nikolai Tsankov) was an exiled Russian oligarch who helped finance his friend and his family when they claimed asylum in the UK.
Coming to know each other following an assassination attempt on the oligarch in 1994, the pair both eventually fled Russia.
However after Litvinenko’s death, Berezovsky found himself accused of being a suspect by Russian State Television, however he sued the broadcaster in a British court and cleared his name.
In 2013, he took his own life. The Thames Valley Police classified his death as ‘unexplained’ and launched a formal investigation into the circumstances behind it.
While specialists in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials were deployed to his home, they found ‘nothing of concern’.
However, an inquest into his death the following year resulted in an open verdict.
As did Andrey Lugovoy (Radoslaw Kaim) (Picture: ITV)
One of the two men accused by the British judiciary of Litvinenko’s murder, Andrey Lugovoy (Radoslaw Kaim) was a KGB bodyguard, but is now a Member of Parliament in Russia.
He met with Litvinenko for tea in the Millennium Hotel on the day he fell ill.
Traces of radioactive isotopes were subsequently found on Lugovoy and on the plane in which he returned to Moscow.
Berezovsky, in a BBC interview, once publicly accused Lugovoy of murder, claiming that Litvinenko had told him, ‘I think Lugovoy is involved in my poisoning’, as he lay on his deathbed.
Britain requested the extradition of Lugovoy, charging him in absentia for the murder, but to date, Russia has refused to comply.
His co-accused, Russian businessman and KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun, died from Covid in a Moscow hospital earlier this year.
Sir John McLeod Scarlett (Simon Paisley Day) was the head of MI6 at the time (Picture: ITV)
Sir John McLeod Scarlett was Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2004 to 2009 and appeared to be involved in recruiting Litvinenko.
A few years after his death it was revealed Litvinenko was receiving a retainer of around £2,000 a month from the British security services at the time he was murdered.
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In the series, Sir John is played by Simon Paisley Day.
Litvinenko is streaming from December 15 on ITVX.
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