A new BBC drama, Prisoner 951, will dramatise the six-year imprisonment of dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran. The four-part series stars Narges Rashidi as Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Joseph Fiennes as her husband, Richard Ratcliffe. The drama explores the couple's ordeal after Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in July 2016 on spying charges, which her husband described as 'state hostage-taking'.
At the time of her arrest, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting her parents in Iran with her two-year-old daughter. She was accused of attempting to overthrow the Iranian regime, working for MI6, and 'empowering women'. She had been working for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The UK government's response was complicated by the Brexit referendum and a change of prime minister, with Boris Johnson's later false claim that she had been 'teaching people journalism' worsening her situation.
Actress Narges Rashidi, who was born in Iran and moved to Germany as a child, said she watched interviews and footage of Zaghari-Ratcliffe to prepare for the role. She noted that the Zaghari-Ratcliffe depicted early in the drama was 'extremely petrified' and soft, before developing strength over the years. Joseph Fiennes met with Richard Ratcliffe, whom he described as a 'forensic accountant' with tenacity.
The drama highlights the human reality of the case, including the couple's fight for justice and Ratcliffe's hunger strike to force British action. Prisoner 951 is set to air on BBC One.
