A Helensburgh actress is starring in an TV crime thriller made by the creator of Line of Duty.

Morven Christie plays the lead role in Payback, where she portrays a widow named Lexie.

After her late husband was murdered, Lexie discovers he was involved with a dangerous criminal played by Peter Mullan, and she becomes involved in a police operation to finally take him down.

Executive produced by Line of Duty’s Jed Mercurio, the first episode of the series was shown on STV on Wednesday, October 4 with episode three set to air on Wednesday, October 18.

All episodes of the six-part series are available now to watch via the STV Player.

Morven is known for her roles as DC Lisa Armstrong in crime series The Bay, Alison Hughes in drama The A Word, and Amanda Hopkins in period detective show Grantchester.

She studied acting in The Drama Centre London and had her first on screen appearance in the 2004 TV movie Quite Ugly One Morning, based on Christopher Brookmyre’s book of the same name.

She also won rave reviews for her portrayal of a stylish and successful arthitect in the 2017 BBC series The Replacement, whose life was turned upside down by her maternity leave stand-in, played by Vicky McClure.

Morven reflected on her life and career in the Advertiser's Eye on Millig column in April 2017, speaking to the late Donald Fullarton.

After leaving drama school in 2004, Morven, who is 5ft 3 ins tall with light brown hair and hazel eyes, was soon in demand on stage and screen, playing Jane Bennett in ITV1’s critically-acclaimed ‘Lost in Austen’ and Rose in ‘Oliver Twist’ for the BBC.

Among her stage work were the leading roles of Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Hero in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2006-7, in which she received rave reviews for both her portrayals.

Early in 2009 she starred at London’s Old Vic Theatre in the final leg of the Bridge Project, a ten-month tour of Tom Stoppard’s new adaptation of ‘The Cherry Orchard’ and ‘A Winter’s Tale’, directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes.

She said: “The things you learn on a project like this are on a completely different level to other experiences. But theatre can be quite hard work and very pressurised.”

Her film debut was in ‘House of 9’ with Dennis Hopper and Susie Amy, the story of nine strangers, with no apparent connection between them, being abducted, drugged, kidnapped and sealed in a house together.

She also appeared in ‘The Flying Scotsman’ with Johnny Lee Miller, which told the story of inspirational Ayrshire cyclist Graeme Obree who broke the world one-hour record in 1993 on a bike he designed.

She played the supporting lead role of Watson in the film ‘The Young Victoria’, which told of the turbulent early years in the life of Queen Victoria and starred Emily Blunt.

In October 2009 Morven was in South Africa filming in Alan Bleasdale’s ‘The Sinking of the Laconia’, a highly-rated two-part drama shown on BBC2.

The following year she opened in the National Theatre production of Ena Lamont Stewart’s ‘Men Should Weep’, a moving and funny portrayal of impoverished 1930s Glasgow, a raw salute to the human spirit, at the Lyttelton Theatre on London’s South Bank.

It starred, among others, top Scottish comic actress Karen Dunlop.

In 2011 she starred in the well-known short film ‘Hollow’, winner of four awards at the Rhodes Island International Film Festival.

It explored the nature of addiction as Morven’s character struggles with her partner to overcome heroin addiction.

The next year she was in the cast of the second and third series of the BBC Two weekly comedy series set against the backdrop of the Olympic Games, ‘Twenty Twelve’, playing the head of legacy at the Games organisers in the spoof documentary.

In 2015 the National Theatre of Scotland announced that Morven would play the central role of Lise in their production of ‘The Driver’s Seat’, adapted and directed by Laurie Sansom from the novel by Muriel Spark, at the Lyceum in Edinburgh and the Tramway in Glasgow.