‘Sticks and Stones’ will make viewers question their own mortality.
The new psychological three-part drama – starring Susannah Fielding, Ken Nwosu and Ben Miller – will explore workplace bullying and toxic office culture, whilst the audience will have to decide "what the right thing to feel is".
Screenwriter Mike Bartlett – who also created hit series ‘Doctor Foster’ – told Digital Spy: "I felt an interesting contradiction and dynamic between when someone does something at work, whether it’s framed as a joke, and it is actually funny, but it’s also cruel.
"It puts the audience into a position of having to actually work out what the right thing to feel is."
The ITV drama focuses on Thomas Benson – played by Ken Nwosu – who feels under attack after a pitch goes wrong and potentially loses his company a big client.
One by one, his colleagues begin to turn against him and viewers begin to relate to Thomas.
Mike explained: "We all try to avoid it, but we see it in other people, and we know we’ve got that capacity ourselves. We all have a sense of morality.
"If you saw the effects of a dynamic of bullying, people would probably stop. But the thing about workplace bullying is, you don’t. You don’t see someone at two in the morning, in their bed, crying.
"You just see their work face. You see their public side. It’s a lot easier to call it banter or whatever."
Meanwhile, Susannah – who plays colleague Isobel Jones – hopes the series will encourage fans to talk about work place bullying.
She said: "It’s almost like, as adults, we’re supposed to be able to just handle it. It’s just a laugh, or it’s just fun.
"But I think you instinctively know when it’s crossed a line, don’t we? It’s just that we don’t really talk about it very much."
Doctor Foster creator says new thriller will question morality
