ITV Daytime has commissioned True Crime: a new 20 x 60 minute drama series from indie producer Fremantle Media UK.

True Crime will be “shot as though a documentary crew are following the work of two police officers, who become central characters to the series”.

According to ITV, “the stories are inspired by real crimes which create powerful and relatable human drama. Each episode provides an insight into the working methods of detectives as they investigate a case and uncover the truth.  Each hour long stand-alone story will be shot in the same police station set – with CCTV and other crime-video inserts to provide authenticity to the story.”

Co-created by Steve Hughes (writer, The Bill, Hollyoaks) and Darren Fairhurst (writer, Shameless) True Crime is the first commission from Fremantle Media UK”s new label Newman Street.

MD of Newman Street and Executive Producer of True Crime Paul Marquess said: “It”s hugely exciting that Newman Street has hit the ground running with such a significant commission for ITV Daytime.  True Crime introduces a new way of telling stories about the police and criminal justice – and gives the genre an exciting human-interest twist.”

True Crime was commissioned by Director of Factual and Daytime Alison Sharman and ITV Commissioner for Factual and Daytime Katy Thorogood. Sharman said: “This innovative production model that involves actors improvising scenes inspired from real life cases gives us the opportunity to do something surprising and challenging for the ITV1 Daytime audience.”

The commission is a boost for FremantleMedia which produced high volumes of The Bill for ITV until 2010.