EXCLUSIVE: Jodie Whittaker‘s next starring role will be a hotshot media lawyer in ITV drama In Contempt.

Ahead of her role in Hulu pilot Chicks and a part in the London-set Only Murders in the Building Season 6, Whittaker will star in the “high-stakes” legal drama as barrister Olivia Savareid.

The character’s top-drawer advocacy skills have built her a career defending people’s reputations and engaging in multi-million pound litigation to prevent their names from being destroyed on social media, but the series will see the tables turned on her.

Sherlock and Dracula maker Hartswood Films is producing in association with its parent, ITV Studios (ITVS), with the show airing in the UK on ITV and STV and on streamers ITVX and STV Player. ITVS has international distribution rights.

Steve Thompson (Sherlock) is the writer, with Sue Vertue and Steven Moffat the executive producers. Ed Bazalgette (The Last Kingdom) is the director and Lawrence Till (Douglas is Cancelled) the producer. ITV’s Director of Drama, Polly Hill, who commissioned the show is also overseeing production for the broadcaster.

In Contempt establishes Olivia’s challenging working relationship with veteran news director Greg Dalman, who edits a London daily newspaper prone to pushing the boundaries of what can be published. With a reputation for taking no prisoners, Greg has the capability of acting recklessly if he believes it’s in the public interest, and and as his legal counsel, Olivia, must summon all her skills and expertise to keep him out of libel court.

She is also the mother of 15-year-old daughter, but when an explosive situation erupts at work, she makes a crucial misjudgement and Olivia’s own reputation is suddenly on the line.

“There’s always been a voracious appetite for what happens behind the scenes before news stories are published,” said ITV’s Hill. “Steve has created a gripping and thought-provoking series and I’m thrilled Jodie Whittaker has agreed to play ‘hotshot’ lawyer Olivia Savereid. I have no doubt In Contempt will captivate our audience, as it’s a really timely story for ITV to be telling.”

Whittaker, known for leading Doctor Who and ITV drama Broadchurch, said of her role as Savareid. “This is an amazing character in a world I haven’t explored before. Steve Thompson’s writing is an absolute joy to work with and I’m so excited to be embarking on this adventure with such a brilliant creative team at Hartswood Films and ITV.”

Vertue said she had been seeking to work with Thompson again since BBC series Sherlock, but that “it was never the right time or the right idea” until now. “Then one day he sat down and said, “In the modern world, if you want to kill someone, you don’t use a gun – you destroy their reputation,’ and so began In Contempt.

“A whirlwind drama of cancellation, online poison and media law, where there’s less than 12 hours to stop a headline that could detonate someone’s life. This is the story of now, and this is the series for today. I’m delighted to be working with ITV again and to bring to screen Steve Thompson’s most explosive and personal drama yet.”

Thompson called the show “a signature piece for me”, adding: “It unpacks the challenging relationship between the media and the law – between the freedom of the press and people’s right to privacy. In a world where all of us are surfing the net, hungry for the latest gossip, this drama takes us behind the curtain and shows us the lawyers who are in the vanguard of that fight.”

In Contempt will begin filming in London in the fall with further casting coming closer to production commencing.