The series will recount the period from when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on April 3, 2016
14:00, 23 Nov 2025Updated 14:00, 23 Nov 2025
Narges Rashidi as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Prisoner 951(Image: BBC/Dancing Ledge Productions/Laurence Cendrowicz/PA)
Gangs Of London actress Narges Rashidi and Shakespeare In Love’s Joseph Fiennes will star in a new series that follows the imprisonment of Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The four-part BBC factual drama, Prisoner 951, will tell the story of Mrs Ratcliffe – who was detained and held hostage by the Iranian state for nearly six years.
It will also follow the struggle of her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who went on hunger strike twice while campaigning for his wife’s return.
Narges, 45 – best known for playing Lale in the drama series Gangs Of London, as well as for starring in Under The Shadow and The Allegation – will portray Mrs Ratcliffe, while Joseph, 55 – known for portraying Commander Fred Waterford, a high-ranking government official in The Handmaid’s Tale alongside Elisabeth Moss – will play her husband.
Narges Rashidi as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Prisoner 951(Image: BBC/Dancing Ledge Productions/PA)
The series will recount the period from when Nazanin 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.
First look images show Narges as Mrs Ratcliffe at the airport, moments before her arrest, with another photograph capturing Joseph as Mr Ratcliffe during one of his hunger strikes.
Joseph Fiennes as Richard Ratcliffe in Prisoner 951(Image: BBC/Dancing Ledge Productions/Rekha Garton/PA)
Prisoner 951 is based on the memoir A Yard of Sky: A Story Of Love, Resistance And Hope, which was written by the couple as a story of their struggle to get political action and Mrs Ratcliffe home.
The series was adapted by Stephen Butchard and directed by Bafta award winner Philippa Lowthorpe.
How many episodes are there in Prisoner 951?
The four-part series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday, November 23, at 9pm.
Prisoner 951 cast list
Narges Rashidi as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Joseph Fiennes as Richard Ratcliffe
Nicholas Farrell as John Ratcliffe
Marion Bailey as Barbara Ratcliffe
Bijan Daneshmand as Baba
Behi Djanati Atai as Mamani
Catherine Bailey as Rebecca Ratcliffe
Shaun Yusuf McKee as Lim