Martin Clunes and Out There creator address potential for Mr Bates-style impact

County lines is the term used to refer to drugs being transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries, usually by vulnerable people such as children who are exploited by gangs.

At the Q&A, the trio were asked about their decision to bring issues surrounding county lines drug dealing to the screen, thus giving them greater cultural prominence, and specifically whether they were hoping the drama could have an impact like Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which 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."

Meanwhile, Evans added: "I think we were really touched and surprised by the reaction to Manhunt. You know, I think there's a thing with true crime where you do ask yourself a question, not just what the story is that you're shooting, but why you're shooting it, what the themes might be.

"And Ed does a great job at putting those themes into the thing - the second Manhunt dealt a lot with old age, for example, at a time when that was really visible because of COVID and how we didn't look after old people at the time as well as we should have, perhaps.

"So I think even though it would be extremely high-minded to think that television can change anything, I think it can make you think about things.

"And what we try to do across the board, in terms of acting, in terms of writing, in terms of directing, is just try and combine the drama with a degree of authenticity that doesn't become, 'we go over there to make the story more exciting', but actually there's plenty to be found in the real situation that makes it interesting and dramatic anyway."

Martin Clunes suggested 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 county lines drug dealing.

"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."

Whitmore then added: "I think it's probably a little bit unwise, or maybe a bit grand to say you think you can change things, but I feel that there's a relationship between the way that Nathan's character goes on a journey into this dark world, and in that process there's illumination.

"And that seems to chime with a lot of the real-life accounts, especially parents who say, you know, ‘we were sort of in the dark, and then illumination came but too late’, often. And so I feel like, as you watch the show, inevitably, there's a sort of meta relationship with the audience, we hope we'll be illuminating this world with some authenticity.

"And if people can learn things from that, or understand the sort of context of county lines better... and it's interesting just talking to people about it – a lot of people still don't even really know what it is at all, they’ve never even heard of it. So, if we can provide some illumination of some kind, I feel that's great."

Alongside Clunes, Out There also stars Louis Ashbourne-Serkis as Nathan's son Johnny, while Mark Lewis Jones plays Nathan's brother Caleb and the rest of the cast includes Natalia Kostrzewa, Carly-Sophia Davies, Gerran Howell and Michael Obiora.

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Out There will be coming to ITV1 and ITVX soon.

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