Doing Money – BBC2

Doing Money – Picture Shows: Lily (ALINA SERBAN), Skinny (VOICA OLTEAN), Ancuta (COSMINA STRATAN), Anna (ANCA DUMITRA)
(Image credit: BBC/Renegade Pictures/Phil Sharp)

A true story about a Romanian woman kidnapped on the streets of London, then taken to Ireland by a sex-trafficking ring is told in the new drama Doing Money

Prepare to be shocked by this tale of modern slavery.

Could human trafficking be happening across the road from you?

Could you have walked past a slave at a service station?

This electrifying but chilling drama follows Romanian cleaner Ana (a brilliant Anca Dumitra, picutred above far left), who is snatched from a London street and taken to Ireland to work as a sex slave.

You’ll share every emotion as Ana struggles against her captors, and her ordeal becomes increasingly hideous as every means of escape is closed off.

Allen Leech (Downton Abbey) is impressive as the steely cop facing numerous obstacles as he tries to work out what is happening.

A disturbing but eye-opening must-watch that’s based, terrifyingly, on a true story.

Doing Money

Captors: Stefan (Sergiu Costache) and Luca (Alex Secareanu)

TV Times caught up with Allen, 37, who plays DI Dougie Grant, who leads a police unit that is targeting human traffickers and trying to save Ana and her fellow sex slaves.

How do you see Dougie? He has incredible integrity and is trying to do right by these girls. But he suffers frustrations. It’s so difficult to save them because they can’t talk as they are so afraid.

The real Dougie worked tirelessly on something that’s so important – I feel a great sense of duty and responsibility.

I was bowled over by the real Ana’s story too, and I want to applaud her bravery in coming forward because of the risks she was taking in doing that.

Doing Money shows Allen Leech and Jonathan Harden

On the case: Dougie and Liam (Allen Leech and Jonathan Harden)

Were you shocked to learn what these girls go through? Yes, particularly how the gangs entrap them. They prey on the most vulnerable part of all our lives, which is our family.

That’s chilling and evil and strips you of humanity.

The full interview is in this week's TV Times, on sale 30 October

TV Times rating: *****

Mandy Cooper
TV Times Highlights Editor

As TV Times Highlights Editor I get to hear about all the latest TV shows coming soon. Here at TVT HQ we are in the privileged position of selecting the best programmes from across all the channels and streaming platforms. Our mission is to make it easier for our readers to decide what to watch - and give them lots of choice of genres - all the latest shows, plus some nostalgic choices we call hidden gems, too. My career began with a postgraduate degree in periodical journalism (ahem, yes old school!) in 1991 and I’ve worked in TV media since 2000.