Narges Rashidi describes it as the most emotionally challenging role she’s ever played: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen who was imprisoned and held hostage by the Iranian state for six years.
The extraordinary story of Nazanin, the stark reality of her time in prison, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe’s determined campaign for her return, are told in 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 happens to the Ratcliffe family. Accused of espionage while in Iran, Nazanin is sent to prison, torn away from her 22-month-old daughter. Her husband battles to have her freed, but it appears that her imprisonment may be part of a decades-old dispute between Iran and Britain.
“I was struck by how they navigated it all, and I was really impressed by their resilience,” says Rashidi, whose face will be familiar to fans of Gangs of London, where she played freedom fighter Lale.
“Their love for each other and the strength of the bond between them really stood out for me. It's incredibly hard to go through something like this, something so atrocious, but to do so and survive it with so much grace and hope, that was something that I found extremely impressive.”
Joseph Fiennes says he learned a lot about their story after taking on the role of Richard Ratcliffe.
“I was aware of the story when it hit the headlines, and certainly when Richard went on a hunger strike, but not with the full story. Through my research, filming and since completing the project, I found those details particularly arresting. I think it's vital that those details are revealed in the way both writer Stephen Butchard and director Philippa Lowthorpe have managed to do through this drama.
“The big learning for me is waking up to the notion that innocent people – and in this case, an innocent person carrying dual nationality – could be subject to State hostage taking. What we're not aware of are the behind-the-scenes events and issues that invariably can have, as it did in this case, an effect on the private lives of innocent people.
“What I found incredible were the wider events that surrounded Nazanin and Richard’s story. So, now I look at the news when someone is accused by a country of spying and consider that it might not be so straightforward.”
Fiennes says Butchard’s script, based in part on drafts of the couple’s upcoming book, A Yard of Sky, was what initially drew him to the project, along with the chance to work with Lowthorpe.
“First and foremost, it was Stephen's writing that I felt to be politically engaging. It becomes a thriller of sorts, it's very real, prescient and it's happened in my time. I felt the extraordinary love story that evolves through the series, the love of family members, and between the prisoners who help each other get through horrific events. There's this human drama juxtaposed with the political; we have two stories running alongside each other, but they're both joined at the hip by the notion of profound love and by how people get through the darkest of times, that's what drew me in.”
Butchard describes what happened to Nazanin and Richard as “ordinary people coming up against something seemingly so immovable, but they keep on chipping away at it, finding a way of surviving”.
Writing the series was about being as true as possible, he says.
“Everything that’s on screen, we’ve tried to back up with records of the real events. We were speaking to MPs and politicians and family members resident in the UK, asking how they remembered things. It was about making it as truthful and as based on fact as possible. When you’re dealing with a drama like this, that’s the responsibility you have.”
Iranian-born Rashidi, who spent part of her life in Germany, explains that, as well as reading parts of A Yard of Sky (at Lowthorpe’s suggestion, she read only Nazanin’s parts, so she went into filming seeing events more from her perspective), she also worked on her accent.
“I watched all of Nazanin and Richard’s interviews to get the gist of her essence. I didn't want to mimic Nazanin, but I did want to get as close to her as possible – to do justice to her and to the families. I researched a lot, I read every interview that was out there, and I don't think I've left anything out.
“Reading a draft of the book really helped me to get into Nazanin’s headspace and emotions. 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 very specific to her. We tried to get as close as possible to that, it's something I worked on intensively.
“There were two phases in her story when she was on a hunger strike and lost a lot of weight. I lost some, but I couldn’t lose too much because we weren’t shooting scenes chronologically. I had to lose just the right amount that would work for the hunger strike scenes, but also for the rest of the story. With the help of costume and make-up, we enhanced how I needed to appear at any given time.”
Rashindi and Fiennes have both been praised for their work in the series, which RadioTimes has described as a “powerful, unflinching piece of drama”. The UK’s Observer says Rashidi gives “one of the most compelling performances of the year”; The Independent praises both Fienne’s "intense and moving performance" and Rashidi’s brilliance. Australian-British academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who has herself been a prisoner in Iran, and had met Zaghari-Ratcliffe in prison, brings a personal and compelling viewpoint to her review of the series, which she says paints a gripping picture of hostage diplomacy.
Other key figures 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 his 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 just about the couple, but those who supported them.
“At the heart of this series is a story about love and hope. It’s the love between Nazanin, Richard, their daughter, and the wider families supporting their adult children going through these extraordinary events. It is also about human courage and resilience in the face of something so horrific.”
“To see how Nazanin and Richard held on to their love, how the families held on to love, how the women in the prison held on to love in the face of horrific abuses and horrendous treatment is incredibly inspiring. I hope the public feel very inspired by this story of bravery, love and hope.”
This article includes material supplied by BBC and Dancing Ledge.
Five-part series Prisoner 951 will air weekly on SBS, starting 9.25pm on Wednesday 4 March. Episodes will be arriving weekly at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Prisoner 951
series • Drama
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series • Drama
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Find out more in documentary The Hostages' Story, streaming now at SBS On Demand. With exclusive access to Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe, as well as other former hostages, Anoosheh Ashoori and his daughter Elika Ashoori, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Jason Rezaian and global experts, The Hostages' Story offers a rare, inside look at the toll of caught up in political negotiations between states.
Stream free On Demand
The Hostages' Story
