BBC unveils first look at “powerful” new drama and it’s based on an “extraordinary true story”

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The BBC has shared initial pictures from its upcoming drama Prisoner 951, which is inspired by a remarkable real-life event.

I just heard about this new series and it sounds intense! Gangs of London‘s Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes, who you might recognize from The Handmaid’s Tale, are going to be the main actors. It’s based on the real story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who was basically held hostage by Iran for six years – a really tough situation. I’m definitely going to check this out.

After being arrested and accused of spying – charges she refuted – she received a five-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, worked tirelessly to secure her release and bring her home.

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Prisoner 951 was written by Stephen Butchard, who also created This City Is Ours and Five Daughters, and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, a winner of the BAFTA award.

The show will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer and will also air on BBC One later in the year. We don’t have a specific release date just yet, but we’ll share it as soon as it’s confirmed. Keep an eye out for more information!

Let me tell you, this story really got to me. It follows Nazanin and Richard’s whole experience, which everyone was talking about. It starts with Nazanin being arrested at the airport in Tehran – Imam Khomeini International Airport, specifically – and then it shows everything that happened right up to when she finally came home to the UK, six years later. It’s a pretty intense story, honestly.

Prisoner 951 is based on an upcoming book, A Yard of Sky, penned by Nazanin and Richard.

Initial images from the show depict Rashidi playing Nazanin at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. This is the location where, in reality, she traveled with her daughter Gabriella to see her grandparents.

Nazanin was taken into custody by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard just as she and another person were preparing to fly back to the UK.

A further image depicts Fiennes portraying Richard while he’s undertaking a hunger strike, a desperate attempt to instigate political change and secure his wife’s release.

In October 2019, Gabriella rejoined Richard in the UK to start school, having previously lived with her mother’s parents. Nazanin was finally released in March 2022.

“Six years feels like a lifetime. The world I returned to wasn’t the one I’d known before,” Nazanin shared in a 2024 interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour.

When you consider freedom, it often brings to mind past experiences. However, after a lengthy imprisonment, those memories can feel distant and unreal. Therefore, returning to the home I remembered felt quite different from the reality I encountered.

“My child was not two when I left her and she was eight when I came back.”

Prisoner 951 will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year.

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2025-10-02 13:19