The first thing Shaun Evans did, after completing his final scene as serial killer John Sweeney in ITV drama Until I Kill You, was shave – not just his face, mind, but his whole head. The character’s bushy beard was gone in a matter of minutes, followed by the thick thatch of curly hair which he had also grown specifically for the part. ‘I wanted to completely change how I looked after playing Sweeney,’ says the Endeavour star, who left himself bald. ‘I was ready to move on.’
Anybody who watches the four-part Until I Kill You will understand why Shaun would want to get rid of any resemblance to Sweeney. The Liverpool-born carpenter killed and decapitated two of his girlfriends, American-born model Melissa Halstead, 33, and mother-of-three Paula Fields, 31, disposing of their bodies in canals in the Netherlands and London, as well as attempting to murder another, Delia Balmer, after subjecting her to horrific violence, intimidation and humiliation.
The ITV drama is based on Delia’s memoir, Living With A Serial Killer, and charts the former nurse’s relationship with Sweeney, whom she first met in a London pub in 1991.
Starring Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin as Delia, it shows how she fell in love with deceptively charming Sweeney. Unaware of his sinister nature, she invited him to live with her. Slowly the relationship faltered and Sweeney turned violent. He tied Delia to a bed for three-and-a-half days and repeatedly raped her.
Starring Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin as Delia Balmer, the drama shows how she fell in love with deceptively charming John Sweeney (Shaun Evans)
When Leah, a friend and colleague, telephoned from the hospital where they worked together to find out how she was, Sweeney held a gun to Delia’s head when she returned the call, threatening to pull the trigger if she revealed the truth about how he was treating her. As the man who would later be dubbed the Scalp Hunter slept, Delia made her escape and was persuaded by Leah to report Sweeney’s actions to the police.
By the time they visited Delia’s flat, he had gone, but returned six months later and attacked her once more, an assault witnessed from the street by Leah who called the police. When they arrived, they arrested Sweeney and on searching the flat found evidence of his previous crimes – a carefully concealed holdall behind a panel in the bathroom containing a hacksaw, rope, chemicals and gloves.
Inexplicably and tragically, Sweeney was granted bail and after his release carried out a frenzied axe attack on Delia in December 1994, leaving her fighting for her life. The bloody assault is replicated in full in the TV drama, an ordeal Delia survived only because she put her pedal bike between herself and Sweeney.
‘I included every part of my experience at the hands of Sweeney; and when it came to that final attack on the doorstep of my home, I edited it over and over again, wanting everything to read precisely as it had happened,’ explains Delia. ‘My concern has always been to get the truth out, by whatever means.’
Sweeney ran from the path outside Delia’s flat and escaped to Europe. It was not until 2001 that he was arrested as he left a London building site where he had been working.
Sweeney with Delia. He attempted to murder her after subjecting her to horrific violence, intimidation and humiliation
He was finally convicted at the Old Bailey of the attempted murder of Delia later the same year – seven years after his attack on her. Punishment for other crimes committed by Sweeney – the murder of a girlfriend before he met Delia and another murder afterwards – would come later.
As well as her physical scars, Delia suffered PTSD as a result of her terrifying ordeal. Nick Stevens, the writer who adapted her memoir for TV, says he was also struck by how angry she was when he talked to her.
‘I first met Delia in the office of her literary agent,’ he explains. ‘She was half an hour late to the meeting and very agitated. She wouldn’t look at me. I did my best to reassure her that my intentions were honourable but I don’t think those reassurances made much impression.
‘Little by little, she started to trust me. She was open but also hyper-vigilant. If I got a detail wrong or made an assumption she didn’t agree with, she would pounce and give me hell. She was angry – with the justice system and with the police.’
Delia is full of praise for Nick. ‘I gave him detailed critiques of the drafts he wrote,’ she says. ‘He followed my wishes and made changes where possible, and as I had suggested. Nick is very nice and in his words says he is trying to help me. The team at ITV have treated me favourably. I had the opportunity of visiting the set in Wales: it was interesting to watch the filming.’
Shaun Evans and Anna Maxwell Martin in the show
Delia paid two visits to the set of Until I Kill You in South Wales and had a brief conversation with the actress playing her. Says Anna Maxwell Martin, ‘I’ve played a few real people and I have never met them – I choose to do that, it’s how I work. Our writer, Nick, filmed a lot of footage of his meetings with Delia, which I had access to and I only met Delia on set because she’d chosen to visit and I was respectful of that.’
Anna says one of the attractions of Until I Kill You was being able to play a character who is unfiltered and speaks her mind. But that meant Delia didn’t hold back when it came to expressing views on the way the drama was being filmed.
‘She wasn’t happy with the nurse’s hat I wear. I don’t think she liked any of the hats,’ says Anna. ‘But then it is a challenge to see somebody representing you on screen who you feel doesn’t look like you and isn’t wearing what you would wear.’
Anna says she has huge respect for Delia. ‘In the drama we’re saying, “Wow, look at this amazing woman,” who was so resilient and fiery.’
Shaun found himself deeply affected playing the man who tried to snuff out that spirit. He dug into the character and, before scenes, would study photocopies of drawings Sweeney sketched of Delia and murder victim Melissa.
‘I found some of the scenes of violence and control very hard to film,’ says Shaun. ‘The one where Sweeney ties Delia to the bed was especially difficult. He was manipulating and controlling her and it was harrowing to do. I kidded myself that this was just like any other acting job, but such scenes showed that it wasn’t.’
Sweeney is now serving life imprisonment for the murders of Melissa Halstead in 1990 and Paula Fields in 2001 – as well as for the near-fatal attack on Delia – after being convicted at the Old Bailey in 2011. He’s also suspected of killing at least two other girlfriends.
Delia, who is 74, remains haunted by her ordeal. ‘I live for travel, and ballet classes have always been important, but they are almost my only escapes,’ she says. ‘I am a perfectionist but my life is the opposite of perfect. I often suffer from depression and anxiety, am afraid of life and afraid of the future, a compulsive worrier.
‘When I look in the mirror I see a stranger. And certain physical pain I will have for the rest of my life.’
- Until I Kill You, 3-6 November, ITV1 and ITVX