Carrie Johnson is set to be depicted in an upcoming true crime series centered around John Worboys, a serial rapist who targeted her nearly two decades ago by offering her drug-laced vodka in his taxi in London.
Miriam Petche, recognized for her performance in the BBC drama Industry, will take on the role of the former prime minister Boris Johnson’s wife in the ITV production titled Believe Me.
The series chronicles the distressing experience she endured at the age of 19. Mrs. Johnson expressed her hope that the drama acts as a ‘wake-up call’ for the ‘police, the CPS, and the parole board.’
“All too often, the institutions designed to safeguard women and girls fall short,” she remarked. “The handling of the victims in this case was utterly disgraceful.”
At 37, Mrs. Johnson is thought to have been the youngest victim of the sex offender when he picked her up following an evening out on London’s King’s Road in 2007, offering her spiked vodka.
Renowned actor Daniel Mays will portray Worboys, who became infamously known as the Black Cab Rapist.
Written by Jeff Pope and expected to air this spring, it will also feature Slow Horses actress Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Sarah, another of Worboys’ victims, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. ‘Believe Me is about the courage of every woman who came forward to help put John Worboys behind bars,’ said Sarah.
Mrs Johnson was in her first year at Warwick University when the terrifying incident took place.
She will be played by Industry actress Miriam Petche (pictured) in ITV’s new programme, recalling the harrowing incident which happened in 2007 when she was just 19 years old
Carrie Johnson, Boris Johnson’s wife, will be portrayed in a true crime drama about serial rapist John Worboys nearly 20 years after he plied her with spiked vodka in his London taxi
She made it home and then collapsed ‘like a rag doll’ in front of her mother. Six months later she read that a black cab driver had been arrested.
She said: ‘I will never truly know for sure what happened after he drugged me.’
Mrs Johnson was one of nearly 100 women who came forward to the police and one of 14 selected to go to court to testify.
Worboys, now known as John Radford, was convicted in 2009 of attacks on 12 women and in 2019 he was convicted of a further four.
Speaking about the forthcoming drama, Mrs Johnson said she hopes it ‘serves as a wake-up call’ to the ‘police, the CPS and the parole board.’
‘Far too often, women and girls are failed by the very institutions meant to protect them,’ she said.
‘The treatment of the victims in this case was truly shameful. Reform matters but what we urgently need above all is a profound shift in culture.
‘It takes enormous courage for women to come forward. They must know that when they do, they will be treated seriously and with respect, and that every effort will be made to ensure justice is done.’
Black cab rapist John Worboys will face a public parole hearing after officials ruled against his attempt to keep it behind closed doors
Worboys, from Enfield, North London, who had previously worked as a male stripper, became known as the ‘black cab rapist’ after attacking victims in his hackney carriage
The media consultant and charity advisor, who has four children with Boris Johnson, was in her first year at Warwick University when the terrifying incident took place.
She was waiting at a bus stop in west London after a night out with friends when Worboys offered to take her home for just £5, professing to live just around the corner.
He proceeded to tell her that he had won some money at a casino and offered her a glass of champagne to celebrate, which she promptly poured away when he wasn’t looking.
‘Had he asked if I had wanted a drink, I would have politely declined but instead he asked: ‘Will you celebrate with me?’ This was much harder to refuse. It would have felt rude to say no,’ she said in 2018.
