ITV Drama Bad Blood Starts Filming In Newcastle 2026

Key Points

• Production started at Newcastle Civic Centre for Bad Blood, a new drama consisting of four episodes on the scandal of contaminated blood in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Bad Blood is a drama starring high-profile actors including Iain Glen from Game of Thrones and other actors like Joe Absolom, Ben Chaplin, and Susan Lynch.
• It is written by award-winning Peter Moffat and centres around four teenage boys at Treloar’s boarding school who were injected with contaminated blood.
• More than 30,000 people in the UK got hepatitis C and HIV due to NHS treatment, and around 3,000 deaths have been recorded.
• A memorial service remembering 122 former students of Treloar’s was held recently, and this event was live-streamed by Carol Grayson of Newcastle.
• Production will continue in the region of North East, and the completed drama will be shown on ITV next year.

Newcastle (Newcastle Times) September 28, 2026 – Production on a major four-part ITV drama depicting the UK’s infected blood scandal officially commenced in Newcastle city centre on Monday morning, featuring an ensemble cast headed by Game of Thrones star Iain Glen. The series, titled Bad Blood, is written by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Peter Moffat and explores the tragic history surrounding contaminated blood treatments administered during the 1970s and 1980s. Film crews, period props, and supporting extras gathered outside the Newcastle Civic Centre to film initial scenes for the television project, which is scheduled to broadcast next year.

What was spotted during the first day of filming in Newcastle city centre?

Passers-by outside the Newcastle Civic Centre were greeted early on Monday morning by the sight of film crews, extras, and vintage production set pieces, including a classic red phone box installed specifically for the shoot. As reported by Barbara Hodgson of ChronicleLive, actors wearing period attire—including a man in a formal suit and a woman pushing a pushchair—were observed exiting the civic building as cameras rolled. Production activities for the drama will continue at various locations across the North East region over the coming weeks.

Who is starring in the cast and leading the production of Bad Blood?

The drama features a high-profile ensemble cast led by stage, television, and film actor Iain Glen, known for portraying Ser Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones and Dr Alexander Isaacs in the Resident Evil film franchise. As reported by Barbara Hodgson of ChronicleLive, the main cast also includes:

• Joe Absolom, known for his roles in EastEnders and Doc Martin.
• Ben Chaplin, known for his performance in The Thin Red Line.
• Susan Lynch, whose screen credits include playing a killer’s mother in Happy Valley.

The series is written by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Peter Moffat, who conducted extensive original research alongside affected families to craft the script. Direction is handled by Julia Ford, who previously directed Believe Me, a dramatisation focused on the crimes of John Worboys.

What real-life event forms the central storyline of the drama?

Bad Blood centres on what has been described as “one of the biggest injustices in UK history.” The plot focuses specifically on the story of four young boys attending Treloar’s, a boarding school for disabled children located in Hampshire. The school housed an on-site NHS medical centre where pupils suffering from the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia could receive routine treatments without attending external hospitals.

During the 1970s and 1980s, pupils were administered a blood-clotting product known as ‘Factor VIII’. Although promoted at the time as a revolutionary breakthrough in haemophilia care, the product was manufactured using pooled plasma sourced from high-risk donors in the United States. As reported by Barbara Hodgson of ChronicleLive, the school centre functioned in practice as a testing environment for these blood products, resulting in children being used as “guinea pigs.”

How severe was the impact of the infected blood scandal nationwide?

The wider contaminated blood scandal affected more than 30,000 people across the United Kingdom, leaving thousands with life-changing illnesses, including chronic hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. To date, the tragedy has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths. Following the initial onset of illnesses among pupils and patients, a systematic cover-up of institutional failures took place, sparking a decades-long fight by survivors and bereaved families seeking truth and justice.

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How are North East families connected to the Treloar’s school tragedy?

Families across the North East were heavily impacted by the events at Treloar’s. As reported by Barbara Hodgson of ChronicleLive, a dedicated memorial honoring 122 former pupils of the school who died as a result of contaminated blood was formally unveiled over the weekend preceding the start of filming.

Among those observing the memorial unveiling via livestream was Newcastle campaigner Carol Grayson, who researched the scandal and collaborated with ChronicleLive‘s sister publication, The Journal, during its ‘Bad Blood’ awareness campaign launched in 2000. Her late husband, Pete Longstaff, attended the Hampshire boarding school during the 1970s and 1980s alongside his brother, Stephen. Both brothers received Factor VIII injections under the belief that the treatment was beneficial, but both were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses. Stephen Longstaff died from complications in the mid-1990s, while Pete Longstaff passed away in 2005 at the age of 47.

Background of the particular development

The infected blood scandal represents the deadliest treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service (NHS). Introduced during the 1970s, Factor VIII was imported in large quantities from the US, where pharmaceutical companies derived plasma from paid donors, including prison inmates and commercial donors carrying high rates of blood-borne pathogens.

Despite early warnings regarding infection risks, UK health authorities continued the distribution of untreated Factor VIII products through the mid-1980s. Following decades of denial by successive governments and healthcare bodies, a statutory independent inquiry—the Infected Blood Inquiry chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff—was formally established in 2017. The inquiry’s final findings confirmed widespread institutional failure, systemic delay in warning the public, and deliberate destruction of government documents to conceal the scope of the disaster.

Prediction: How this development can affect the audience

The production and public broadcast of Bad Blood on a mainstream network like ITV is expected to significantly increase public awareness and historical understanding of the infected blood scandal among the general television audience. For surviving victims, bereaved relatives, and advocacy groups, the dramatisation serves as a prominent platform for public validation, ensuring the personal human cost of the institutional failure remains visible in national discourse.

Concurrently, the high-profile depiction of state and medical negligence may reinforce public scrutiny surrounding healthcare governance and government accountability. For the North East region, the ongoing filming activity provides direct economic utilization of local production infrastructure and locations while highlighting the historical role played by local campaigners and regional journalism in uncovering the scandal.