Nightswimming: ITV's 'grown-up' thriller from the writers of The Tourist stars Lennie James as man wrongly accused of murder
"It's a juicy thriller about family, love, loss, betrayal, redemption and the price of justice"
Nightswimming is ITV’s “propulsive thriller” from the acclaimed writers behind hit series such as The Tourist, Liar, The Missing, and Baptiste.
Award-winning brothers Harry and Jack Williams run the indie production company, Two Brothers Pictures. And their latest offering looks certain to be another huge success. Not least because they have cast the always brilliant Lennie James in the lead role.
The new series will see Lennie once again play a morally ambiguous character. And anybody who has watched the first series of Line of Duty will know that it’s a part he plays rather well…
Here’s everything we know so far about Nightswimming on ITV, including plot, cast, start date, and filming locations.
What is the plot of Nightswimming on ITV?
ITV describes Nightswimming as “a gripping thriller” which creates a “multi-layered narrative, twisting and turning with every revelation”.
Viewers meet Lennie James’ Matthew, who returns to his home in Portugal after years away. But he isn’t expecting a warm embrace – he hasn’t been back since he was convicted of the brutal murder of his family years earlier.
A synopsis tells us: “Weaving between past and present, Nightswimming picks apart the events that led up to the devastating night when Matthew’s wife, Beth, and two teenage sons, Alex and Simon, were brutally attacked in their beachfront home.”
This all happened while Matthew was performing his “nightly ritual” of swimming in the ocean.
In the present, Matthew mounts his own investigation into the crime that tore his life apart, confronting old friends, revisiting broken relationships and interrogating the people who built the case against him.
But, as he slowly unravels what happened a decade before, he “struggles to plead his own innocence”. In fact, he discovers it was someone much closer to home that helped to put him away.
Who is in the cast?
Multi-BAFTA and RTS award-winning actor, writer and producer Lennie James takes the leading role in the upcoming ITV thriller Nightswimming. He’s played a zombie hunter in Walking Dead, a priest in Spooks, a corrupt cop in Line of Duty, and dozens of roles in between.
Nottingham-born Lennie has had a successful TV and film career both here and in the States. Line of Duty fans will know him as DCI Tony Gates in series 1, and he’s also famous for his roles in Out of the Blue, Civvies, Buried, Countdown, and Jericho. Of course, Walking Dead viewers adored him as Morgan Jones in the apocalyptic horror, as well as the spin-off Fear the Walking Dead.
More recently, Lennie has portrayed Daddy King aka Dr Michael King in Genius, Barrington Walker in Mr Loverman, and Frank Moses in Mayor of Kingstown.
Lennie James, who also executive produces Nightswimming on ITV, said: “I am very excited about getting going on Nightswimming. It’s a juicy, grownup thriller about family, love, loss, betrayal, redemption and the price of justice. Matthew is the kind of character I love to play, full of complexity, contradiction and conviction. This is top notch storytelling, and I’m chuffed to be a part of it.”
ITV will confirm more cast nearer the time, so we’ll update you when that happens.
Who wrote Lennie James’ ITV thriller Nightswimming?
ITV thriller Nightswimming is the latest work from Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning producers and screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams. They run their own production company, Two Brothers Pictures.
Two Brothers Pictures has produced breathtaking thrillers such as The Missing, Baptiste, The Tourist, Liar, Angela Black, and The Assassin.
Harry and Jack will also act as executive producers. They said: “We absolutely relished writing Nightswimming. It’s a small-town thriller with a morally murky edge, grounded in a knotty, complex character. We can’t wait to work with ITV again and to see what Lennie – who we are thrilled to have on board – does with ‘Matthew’ when we begin filming in Portugal next year.”
‘It will keep the audience on the edge of their seat’
Polly Hill, Director of Drama at ITV, told us: “I am delighted to be working with Harry and Jack Williams again. Nightswimming is an incredible thriller with all the twists and surprises you would expect from them. It will keep the audience on the edge of their seat.
“At the heart of it though is Matthew, who is in a nightmare of his own, being wrongly accused of killing his family. I am so thrilled that Lennie James has agreed to play him. I think it’s going to be an unmissable drama.”
Where is ITV thriller Nightswimming being filmed?
Cast and crew will begin filming Nightswimming in Portugal during the spring of 2027.
Thrillers filmed in beautiful locations are always a big draw. The likes of Two Weeks in August, A Taste For Murder, and The Madame Blanc Mysteries can all thank their surroundings for part of their success.
How many episodes is it?
Nightswimming will be six episodes of an hour in length.
It’s early days, so we don’t yet know if the series will drop as a boxset or air weekly.
When is the start date of Nightswimming on ITV?
Cast and crew won’t start filming until the spring of 2027, so we’re going to have to wait.
We’re expecting the thriller to land later in 2027. It could even have a New Year’s Day start date like The Tourist before it. Watch this space for more news when we get it.
