Is Out There on ITV based on a true story? Inspirations for Martin Clunes drama

Clunes actually has his own background in farming, explaining his personal connection to and interest in the project. But is it based on a true story, and what elements of it are inspired by real events?

Read on for everything you need to know about the real-life inspirations for Out There.

Is Out There based on a true story?

It isn't. The actual story of Out There, focusing on Nathan Williams, his son Johnny and their run-in with a drug empire, is entirely fictional.

However, the series has drawn on some very real-life inspirations, including surrounding the rise of county lines drug dealers in recent years, who bring drugs from big cities out into rural towns and villages to sell.

What have the team behind Out There said about its real-life inspirations?

To tell the story in Out There, which sees a farmer's son being duped into becoming involved in county lines drug dealing, the creative team did a great deal of research on real-life stories, including speaking with police who tackle the crime.

Writer Ed Whitmore said at a Q&A for the show: "We spoke a lot to the police about how they tackle it, because it’s a relatively new phenomenon, it only really emerged in sort of 2016/17.

"And then we got in touch with some charities and spoke to the people who'd been involved with county lines, who'd got out of it.

"So we tried to get a really sort of 360 degree understanding of something that is relatively new.

"We were talking to a police officer in Brighton who told us that the first they heard about it was somebody getting killed in Brighton, and they couldn't identify them. They were shot in the street, and then it turned out they were actually from Tottenham.

"And he said it was like waking up and the whole world had been turned upside down. It's like, 'Why are people from Tottenham dying in Brighton?' And for them, that was an eye-opening moment when they understood what they were dealing with."

Meanwhile, Mark Lewis Jones, who plays Nathan's brother Caleb in the drama, recalled filming in a pub in Llandovery and speaking with the landlady.

"She said that the drug problem in the town is so bad now that she's considering giving up," he explained. "I think the scale of it was so shocking to me. I kind of knew about county lines, but thought it was places like Cambridge, sort of satellite towns around big cities.

"I didn't realise that it was so rife in small rural areas, and that it wasn't just a drug problem, that it was destroying communities like the one you see in the story."

Director Marc Evans spoke about balancing the show's fictional, thriller elements with honouring the real-life individuals who have been affected by county lines drug trafficking and dealing.

He said: "There's a part of your brain that is wanting to pay due diligence to the real situation and not be too fanciful with it or too genre, and the other half of your brain is wanting to tell a good story.

"So we had an amazing cast led by Martin, and we had a good story that's based on real events. I'm hoping it's both, if this doesn't sound too pretentious, both entertaining and educative at the same time, because this stuff is real."

Meanwhile, at the Q&A, Clunes was asked whether they were hoping the drama could have an impact on country lines drug dealing in the same manner that Mr Bates vs the Post Office led to a renewed interest in the Post Office scandal and actual legislative change.

Responding to the question, Clunes said: "I mean, that's a pretty unique instance to compare anything to when there’s a public inquiry with a result imminent, which there isn't in this case.

"I don't know, is the honest answer. I don't know if that's our brief, but we're highlighting what we feel is salient and relevant in our drama."

He added that the drama could change people's attitudes to the issue, revealing that he himself had a "preconception that this is teenage boys having a go at being macho and being a bit gangster", but that the series helped him realise that "it's actually vulnerable people and all kinds of people" that get caught up in it.

"And it's not a choice they made, they got hoodwinked into it, they got tricked into it, and that does happen an awful lot," Clunes said. "And they become part of a disposable workforce with little or no respect for their wellbeing."

Out There will air at 9pm on Sunday 19th January on ITV1 and ITVX.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.