EXCLUSIVE: Ever wondered what happens in the room when some of the most important people in Britain debate whether to go to war?
Wonder no more as Channel 4 preps War Room [working title], which will drop a cast of senior politicians, military strategists and intelligence chiefs into a high-stakes simulation of the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBRA), the rooms used for decision-making over responses to national or regional crises.
Clarkson’s Farm maker Expectation is behind the entertainment format, which tests how Britain’s leaders might respond if the country was under attack. Created by military strategists and based around the precarious geopolitical events of 2026, the series unfolds as a real-time thriller, combining documentary footage from the War Room with dramatized sequences. Locked inside a purpose-built, secure bunker, modelled on Britain’s own COBRA, the committee will be forced to make key decisions with the weight of the country’s future hanging in the balance.
War Room is clearly topical. COBRA has been assembled a fair bit in recent times, with conflict currently raging in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Colin Barr, Creative Director, Factual, Expectation, said: “It feels like every day brings fresh revelations about the threats facing Britain, both inside and out. Although our War Room will be a simulation, it will be driven by uncomfortable truths and shocking facts, creating edge-of-the-seat drama as we ask is Britain really ready for a modern war?”
War Room was commissioned by Tim Hancock and Madonna Benjamin from Channel 4’s documentaries and factual entertainment team. It will be executive produced for Expectation by Barr (SAS: Who Dares Wins, Hell Jumper, Murder 24/7) and series produced by Helen Richards (The Jury: Murder Trial).