Narges Rashidi describes it as the most emotionally difficult role she has ever played: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen who was arrested and detained by the Iranian state for six years.
Nazanin’s amazing story, the incredible reality of her time in prison, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe’s determined campaign for her return, are told in the drama series. Prisoner 951. Written by Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom, Baghdad Central, Shardlake), the series is as much a love story as it is a political thriller.
In 2016, the unthinkable happened to the Ratcliffe family. Accused of espionage while in Iran, Nazanin is imprisoned, along with her 22-month-old daughter. Her husband is fighting for her release, but it appears that her arrest may be part of the decades-long conflict between Iran and Britain.
“I was impressed by the way they went about everything, and I was very impressed by their resilience,” said Rashidi, whose face will be familiar to fans of the game. Gangs in Londonwhere he played the freedom fighter Lale.
“Their love for each other and the strength of the bond between them really stood out to me. It’s very difficult to deal with something like this, something terrible, but to do so and live through it with so much grace and hope, that’s something I found very impressive.”
Joseph Fiennes says he learned a lot about their story after taking over from Richard Ratcliffe.
“I knew the story when it hit the headlines, and when Richard went on hunger strike, but not the full story. Through my research, filming and since completing the project, I found those details to be very surprising. I think it’s important that those details are revealed in the way that both writer Stephen Butchard and director Philippa Lowthorpe were able to do with this play.
“The biggest lesson for me is waking up to the idea that innocent people – and in this case, an innocent person with dual citizenship – could be caught by the State.” What we don’t know are the behind-the-scenes events and problems that may impact the private lives of innocent people.
“What I found incredible was the wider events that surrounded the story of Nazanin and Richard. So, now I look at stories where someone is accused by the country of being a spy and I think that maybe it’s not that specific.”
Fiennes says Butchard’s script, based in part on a draft of the couple’s upcoming book, The Courtyard of the Skyit was what first drew him to the job, and the opportunity to work with Lowthorpe.
“First and foremost, it was Stephen’s writing that I felt involved in politics. It becomes a kind of fun, true, informed and happening in my time. I heard a strange love story from the series, the love of family members, and between the prisoners who help each other to get through these horrific games that are accompanied by two political events. each other, but both are joined at the waist by the idea of deep love and how people go through the darkest, that’s what attracted me.”
Butchard describes what happened to Nazanin and Richard as “ordinary people who come up against something that seems immovable, but they keep coming out of it, finding a way to survive”.
Writing the series was about being as authentic as possible, he says.
“Everything that’s on screen, we’ve tried to base it on real-life records. We’ve been talking to MPs and politicians and family members who live in the UK, asking how they remember things. It was about making it as authentic and grounded in reality as possible. When you’re dealing with a drama like this, that’s a responsibility you have.”
Iran-born Rashidi, who spent part of his life in Germany, explains that, as well as studying parts of Sky Yard (at Lowthorpe’s suggestion, he read Nazanin’s parts only, so he went into filming seeing events more from his point of view), he also worked on his speech.
“I watched all the interviews of Nazanin and Richard to get the essence of her worth. I didn’t want to imitate Nazanin, but I wanted to be as close to her as possible – to do justice to her and the families. I did a lot of research, I read every interview there was, and I don’t think I left anything out.
“Reading the outline of the book helped me a lot to get into Nazanin’s mind and feelings. I worked with a dialect coach because I’m based in the US and Nazanin is based in the UK, she has an English/Persian accent that is specific to her. We tried to get close to that, it’s something I worked on a lot.
“There were two stages in her story when she was on hunger strike and she lost a lot of weight. I lost a little, but I couldn’t lose much because we weren’t shooting the scenes in sequence. I had to lose the right amount that would work for the hunger strike scenes, but also for the whole story. With the help of costumes and makeup, we improved whenever I needed.”
Rashindi and Fiennes have both been praised for their work in the series, RadioTimes has explained “as a powerful, unrelenting piece of drama”. UK Observer he says Rashidi gives “one of the most compelling performances of the year”; The Independent praises both Fienne’s “great and moving performance” and Rashidi’s genius. Australian-British scholar Kylie Moore-Gilbert, herself a prisoner in Iran, and who met Zaghari-Ratcliffe in prison, brings a personal and compelling perspective. his update in the series, which he says paints a fascinating picture of the hostage negotiations.
Other important characters are brought to life by Bijan Daneshmand as Nazanin’s father, Behi Djanati-Atai as Nazanin’s mother, Nicholas Farrell as Richard’s father and Marion Bailey as her mother. Farzana Dua Elahe plays Tulip Siddiq, one of the British politicians who campaigned for Nazanin’s release.
Lowthorpe says this is a story not only about the couple, but also about those who supported them.
“At the heart of this series is a story about love and hope. The love between Nazanin, Richard, their daughter, and the extended families who support their grown children through these extraordinary events. And it’s about human courage and resilience in the face of something so terrible.”
“Seeing the way Nazanin and Richard hold on to their love, the way families hold on to love, the way women in prison hold on to love despite horrific torture and horrible treatment is incredibly inspiring. I hope the public feels very inspired by this story of courage, love and hope.”
This article includes material supplied by the BBC and Dancing Ledge.
The five-part series Prisoner 951 will air weekly on SBS, starting at 9.25pm on Wednesday 4 March. Episodes will arrive weekly on SBS On Demand.
Find out more in the documentary The Hostages’ Story, now streaming on SBS On Demand. With exclusive access to Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe, as well as other former hostages, Anoosheh Ashoori and her daughter Elika Ashoori, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Jason Rezaian and international experts, The Story of the Hostages offers a rare, inside look at the number of people caught up in the political debates between the states.
