BBC drama to explore Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment

A new BBC drama will explore the lengthy imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran.

The 46-year-old British-Iranian citizen was detained in 2016 and only returned to the UK in March 2022.

The four-part show will also look at the struggle of her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who went on hunger strike twice as part of his campaign for his wife’s release.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe detained
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe (Victoria Jones/PA)

It will be based on the upcoming book A Yard of Sky: A Story Of Love, Resistance And Hope, written by the couple as a story of their struggle to get political action and Mrs Ratcliffe home.

The factual drama covers the period from the day she was arrested on April 3 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran after a holiday visit, where she had taken her daughter Gabriella to see her parents, to her release and return to the UK six years later.

A BBC spokesman said: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe’s extraordinary experiences captured everyone’s hearts; their journey is one of despair, courage and hope, spanning two countries and six years, and ultimately, it’s a story of how this family, who were forced apart by international events, were finally reunited.”

It will be made by Fremantle-backed Dancing Ledge Productions – who also made the based on real life drama The Salisbury Poisonings and Martin Freeman-starring police show The Responder – for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.