An actor from the North East is playing an important role in dramatic TV retelling of one of the UK's most infamous manhunts.

Actor Sally Messham, from Norton, starred as the ex-girlfriend of Raoul Moat, Samantha Stobbart, in ITV's three-part drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat.

The series explored the case from the viewpoint of the victims and officers participating in the manhunt.

Read more: ITV The Hunt for Raoul Moat: How The Northern Echo covered the search

Messham, who attended Ian Ramsey school in Stockton, has also appeared in the Doc Martin TV series, as well as films such as Aftersun and Artemis Fowl.

So far in her acting career, she has worked with big names such as Dame Judy Dench and Colin Farrell.

The Hunt for Raoul Moat was produced by World Productions, the company behind Bodyguard and Line of Duty. 

The series is based on an infamous incident where Moat shot and killed the boyfriend of Moat’s ex Samantha Stobbart, 22, outside a home in the Scafell area of Birtley, Gateshead.

He also went on to shoot Miss Stobbart, who was hit twice and left in a critical condition, and PC David Rathband, a married father-of-two from Cramlington, Northumberland, blinding him permanently.

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He was on the run for nearly a week, which ended after a six-hour stand-off with police in Rothbury, where Moat died after sustaining a gun wound to the head.

The first episode of the show aired on Sunday (April 16) and also featured Bill Ward, known for playing Charlie Stubbs on Coronation Street. The final episode in the drama airs at 9pm tonight (Wednesday, April 18)

All three episodes are available on ITVX, as well as a documentary on the incident, Manhunt on Moat, which will be broadcast on ITV tomorrow (Thursday, April 19(.