'Too Good to Be True' Becomes 'Captivated' on BritBox

Channel 5 first announced it was commissioning a new thriller starring PBS favorite Allen Leech, at the time under the working title The Hunted, in the spring of 2023. At the time, filming was about to commence, and the network had the new four-part series slated to arrive late that year. However, the action thriller series involved several stunt scenes, with the lead, Kara Tointon, doing her own physical performance. While most actors like to boast about doing their own stunts and are rightly proud of being able to pull off such feats, there's a reason studios would prefer to hire stunt doubles: Toiton tore her ACL in her knee doing one of them, causing delays in finishing the project. 

The series arrived on Channel 5 only a few months after it was initially planned, in February 2024, by that time having been renamed Too Good To Be True. Almost a year later, the series will come to BritBox under a new and different title, Captivated.

BritBox scooped up Captivated in August 2024, after it ran in Australia under the new title, with express plans to stream it come 2025. But despite the massive wave of new series, Captivated isn't waiting for an opening. The series, one of Channel 5's Top Ten Most Watched Series in 2024, will arrive as a binge in January, a release format that the streaming service seems to favor for these shorter four-episode acquisitions like Until I Kill You or The Jetty. (Unlike shows that run eight or ten episodes, a four-episode binge feels almost reasonable.)  

Check out the trailer from the original U.K. run.

Here's the series synopsis:

Captivated follows the story of a young, single mother, Rachel, and her young son, Liam. They’re on the poverty line, but she works all hours of the day as a cleaner to give him the best life she can. One day, her boss at the cleaning firm is approached by a businesswoman who says she’s acting for a wealthy client called Elliot. Her client observed Rachel working at a hotel where he’s a regular guest, and she asked if Rachel could clean for him exclusively. Better pay, fewer hours – it sounds too good to be true. Gradually, Elliot’s behavior towards Rachel and Liam becomes increasingly controlling. When suspicions are raised, Rachel starts to dig into his past, uncovering a dark and disturbing story from his childhood that explains his obsession with them. What ensues is a nail-biting thriller that asks the question: how far would you go to repair your past?     

Kara Tointon (Archie) stars as Rachel, with Charlie Hodson-Prior (Dune: Prophecy) as her son Liam, and Allen Leech (Downton Abbey) as Elliot, the billionaire who stalks them. The rest of the ensemble includes Sara Powell (The Killing Kind) as Elliot's associate, Simone, Taj Atwal (Riot Women) as Rachel’s best friend and colleague, Jasmine, and John Thomson (Dodger) as Rachel’s boss, Geoff.

Screenwriters Cameron McAllister and Nessah Muthy split the four-part series between them. Series creator Megan K Fox directed all installments, and John Wallace produced them. Sebastian Cardwell executive produces for Channel 5 and Sam Tipper-Hale for Story Films, the All3Media-backed producer behind The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe. 

All four episodes of Captivated land on BritBox on Tuesday, January 22, 2025.