Truelove: New six-part drama tackles the ethical debate around euthanasia and loneliness

During the pandemic in particular, we all heard stories of patients dying alone or in a way they wouldn’t have chosen for themselves, and as a result, the question of how and where we pass away has become even more present.

This new six-part drama tackles the big ethical debate around euthanasia and loneliness, combining it with a touching love story and thriller elements.

Truelove tells the tale of a group of old friends who are forced to confront the creeping spectre of their own mortality and respond by making a literal death pact.

If that all sounds a bit grim, it should be pointed out that it is co-created by Charlie Corvell, the writer of Bafta award-winning serial killer love story The End of the F**ing World, so it may not to be as downbeat as it would first appear.

In tonight’s first episode (the series continues tomorrow), we meet Phil aka Philippa (Lindsay Duncan), who has had a long and distinguished career in the police force. However, she is 13 years retired and very, very bored.

Meanwhile, Ken (Clarke Peters), a solitary SAS veteran, feels similarly at sea. They reunite for the first time in years at a friend’s wake, and with nostalgia and booze flowing, they and their friends take it in turns to imagine what a dignified death looks like, dreaming of quality of years over quantity.

Naturally, Phil and Ken would make the perfect team to help any ill friends with a ‘solution’.

Ken could kill them and Phil could use her detective skills to cover up the crime and make it look like a natural departure. It’s just like police work in reverse.

However, what starts as a joke morphs into reality when their beloved friend Tom (Lark Rise to Candleford’s Karl Johnson) asks them to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Edinburgh-born actress Duncan, who has previously starred in Merlin, The Sinking of The Laconia, Doctor Who and Around The World in 80 Days, stepped into play Phil after Julie Walters was forced to pull out due to health issues.

As soon as Lindsay was asked to take part, she didn’t hesitate.

“When I read the Truelove scripts I knew I wanted to be involved,” she says.

“Phil is a great part – an intelligent, tough and complex woman – but also I want to be a part of this project.

“It’s so well written, exploring what we face when age becomes a factor. How do we want to live, die and love with the remaining years? It tells a compelling story with humanity and very dark humour.”

As well as Duncan, Peters and Johnson, Truelove also features The Royle Family star Sue Johnston, alongside Phil Davis (Whitechapel), Peter Egan (Unforgotten), Fiona Button (The Split) and Kiran Sonia Sawar (Murdered by My Father).

Another element that many viewers will find refreshing is that Truelove’s core cast are in their 70s, flipping ageist romantic tropes on their head as they tackle one of society’s knottiest ethical questions with a lightness of touch.