Riveting ‘Payback’ offers high-stakes crime drama

nypost.com:

Bodyguard” and “Line of Duty,” knows a thing or two about riveting television drama.And that’s why he signed on as an executive producer of “Payback,” a BritBox crime thriller series created and written by Debbie O’Malley that takes place in Scotland and features Peter Mullan, who memorably played doomed killer Jacob Snell on “Ozark.” “Debbie was a writer I admired and I knew her a bit socially,” Mercurio, 57, told The Post. “We got talking about this idea she had for a show and it was fairly soon in the process when I realized she was on to something — and then making sure we had a very strong serial thread.“Debbie did fantastic work on the protagonist, making her an everywoman character and creating the stakes and jeopardy within the story.”The protagonist here is Lexie Noble (Morven Christie), an accountant who’s raising her two young children in Edinburgh while her husband, Jared, who’s also an accountant, runs their business.

After Jared is murdered in broad daylight by street thugs, Lexie discovers that he stole $27 million pounds from feared local crime boss Cal Morris (Mullan) while supposedly helping the gangster launder his ill-gotten gains.The Edinburgh police, meanwhile, are trying to nail Morris and bring down his empire.

Over the course of six riveting episodes, Lexie works both sides of the street in an effort to save her family’s lives — trying to recover the stolen money for Morris while simultaneously providing inside information to the police.