Is Until I Kill You a true story? Inside the real-life horror of Delia Balmer and serial killer John Sweeney

The ITV series, Until I Kill You, is set to premiere on November 3. The four-part series will be accompanied by a companion documentary titled Until I Kill You: The Real Story.

Anna Maxwell Martin takes on the role of Delia Balmer, while Shaun Evans portrays John Sweeney.

The real Delia Balmer penned a book about her harrowing experience living with a serial axe murderer, titled Living With a Serial Killer. The series draws its narrative from this book.

The chilling true story unfolds in 1991 when Delia was employed as an agency nurse in London. At the age of 40, she lived alone and led a solitary existence.

She encountered a man at a pub who introduced himself as John Sweeney, four years her junior. Their initial meeting didn't lead anywhere, but they crossed paths again weeks later on the street, reports the Mirror.

Sweeney asked Delia out, and although she initially declined, his persistent advances led her to write him a letter - a decision she would deeply regret.

Sweeney, a casual labourer living in a squat, was eager to move into Delia's home.

Delia remembered his explosive fits of rage and wanted him gone, but fear held her back from asking him to leave.

After enduring two years of an abusive relationship, she finally mustered the courage to ask him to leave in December 1993.

However, he continued to manipulate and control her, with things escalating in the spring of 1994 when he held her hostage in her own home for several days.

He bound her to the bed and threatened her with a gun and knife, warning that he would cut out her tongue if she screamed.

During this horrifying ordeal, he confessed to murdering his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Halstead, revealing that he had dismembered her body and disposed of it in an