For Her Sins: release date, cast, plot, episode guide, trailer and everything we know

The For Her Sins key art, showing Laura (Jo Joyner) and Emily (Rachel Shenton) standing side by side in front of a multicoloured gradient background of rainbow-style colours. Laura is looking over her shoulder at Emily, while Emily is looking straight into the camera.
For Her Sins is a new four-part thriller. (Image credit: Paramount/Channel 5)

For Her Sins is an exciting four-part psychological thriller in which successful lawyer Laura (ex-EastEnders star Jo Joyner), who has been struggling since becoming a mother to two young children, is relieved to make a new friend in Emily (Rachel Shenton) — but doesn't realize that her new pal is secretly plotting to cause trouble in her life.

Written by Jo Rogers and directed by Adrian McDowall, the series plots the gradual unraveling of Laura's seemingly perfect life as Emily embarks on her campaign to undermine Laura at every turn.

Jo Joyner explains: "Laura's at such a low ebb when we meet her, in her home life, and it's so out of character because she's used to being in control and in charge at work. What Emily does really well is find her at that point and then just pulls those little threads every now and then — gaslighting her, ultimately, pretending to be the best thing in her life at the moment. So it's a really complex relationship, and it's written really well, and one of the things I loved about it was how she chips away at Laura's confidence without Laura even knowing."

Here's everything we know about the series so far...

For Her Sins release date

For Her Sins launches on Monday, June 5 on Channel 5 and My5 at 9 pm in the UK, and continues every night at 9 pm until Thursday, June 8.

For Her Sins cast

Laura (Jo Joyner), Rob (Duncan Pow) and Eliza (Romi Hyland-Rylands) are out walking in the playground. Rob is pushing baby Elliot in a pushchair, and all three look happy.

Laura (Jo Joyner) and Rob (Duncan Pow) enjoy a rare family day out with children Elliot and Eliza (Romi Hyland-Rylands). (Image credit: Paramount/Channel 5)

Jo Joyner (Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators, Ackley Bridge, EastEnders) leads the cast of For Her Sins as Laura Conroy, with Duncan Pow (Andor, The Salisbury Poisonings) as her husband Rob and Romi Hyland-Rylands (The Responder) as their daughter Eliza. 

All Creatures Great And Small and Hollyoaks star Rachel Shenton plays Emily Furness, with Ansu Kabia (Miss Scarlet And The Duke) as Laura's boss and old flame Tom, and Ann Mitchell (EastEnders, Call The Midwife) as Laura's mother Maggie.

What's the plot?

As a high-flying lawyer, Laura Conroy is used to being the one in control — but since becoming a mother to two young children, she's found herself losing her self-assurance, particularly with her husband Rob often away on business, leaving Laura to raise their children largely on her own. 

When Laura loses sight of her daughter Eliza in the park one day, she finds her with Emily, a kindly stranger — and then the two meet again at the school gates when Emily steps in to save Laura from one of Eliza's tantrums.

Laura (Jo Joyner) is crouching down in woodland, clutching baby Elliot as she speaks to Eliza (Romi Hyland-Rylands). Emily (Rachel Shenton), dressed in a black hoodie and baseball cap, is leaning towards them both and making a conciliatory gesture

Laura (Jo Joyner) and Emily (Rachel Shenton) first meet when Laura loses sight of daughter Eliza (Romi Hyland-Rylands) in the park. (Image credit: Paramount/Channel 5)

Laura and Emily soon become firm friends, and Laura is relieved to finally have someone to talk to about her anxieties around motherhood — but what she doesn't realise is that she and Emily are connected by an event in their past, and Emily's arrival in her life was no accident...

For Her Sins episode guide

Episode 1: While her husband Rob is away, Laura loses her daughter Eliza while they're out together at the park, and finds her with stranger Emily. Laura is initially wary of Emily, but after Emily helps calm Eliza out of a tantrum at school drop-off, Laura believes she's made a new friend. However, as the two of them grow closer, Emily starts to manipulate Laura and those around her...

Episode 2: Laura wakes up in a hotel after a night of heavy drinking at a work party and is horrified at the thought she might have slept with boss and ex-boyfriend Tom. Arriving home to a furious Rob after missing an important meeting with the Child Behavioural Team, Laura lies that she spent the night at Emily's. Meanwhile, Emily has a meeting with a mysterious man about Laura.

Emily (Rachel Shenton) and Laura (Jo Joyner) toast with cocktails on a night out in a bar, both looking happy

Emily (Rachel Shenton) encourages Laura (Jo Joyner) to let her hair down on a night out (Image credit: Paramount/Channel 5)

Episode 3: Laura is left reeling after Emily's revelation that she lied about her true identity and ignores Emily's attempts to contact her. During a work meeting, Laura gets a call from Eliza's school telling her that her daughter is sick — but after rushing there to collect her, she discovers that Emily has beaten her to it. As her anxieties start to spiral, Laura receives a threatening letter at work.

Episode 4: After confessing to Emily about her past, Laura is ready to get her life back on track. Emily, however, has other ideas, and it gradually dawns on Laura that she's in serious danger as the pair head towards a final confrontation that sees long-buried truths finally come to the surface...

Emily (Rachel Shenton) sits in an armchair in her dimly-lit living room, making a phone call

Woman of mystery: who is the real Emily (Rachel Shenton)? (Image credit: Paramount/Channel 5)

Is there a trailer for For Her Sins?

There is — and you can check it out below...

Steven Perkins
Staff Writer for TV & Satellite Week, TV Times, What's On TV and whattowatch.com

Steven Perkins is a Staff Writer for TV & Satellite Week, TV Times, What's On TV and whattowatch.com, who has been writing about TV professionally since 2008. He was previously the TV Editor for Inside Soap before taking up his current role in 2020. He loves everything from gritty dramas to docusoaps about airports and thinks about the Eurovision Song Contest all year round.