Prisoner 951 true story: How accurate is the BBC drama to the real events?

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The new BBC drama, Prisoner 951, is based on a real-life story that many people will remember seeing in the news. The events depicted in the show happened relatively recently, between 2016 and 2022.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman, spent six years in an Iranian prison while her husband and countless others worked relentlessly to secure her release.

Narges Rashidi stars as Nazanin in this series, and Joseph Fiennes plays her husband, Richard Ratcliffe. But how much of the show is based on actual events, and what’s the real story that inspired it?

Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Prisoner 951.

What is Prisoner 951 about?

Prisoner 951 is the real-life story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who went to Iran with her young daughter, Gabriella, in 2016.

While waiting for their flight home to the UK, they were arrested by Iranian officials, and Gabriella had her passport taken away.

Iranian authorities claimed Nazanin was running a network connected to foreign interests and sentenced her to five years in prison. She has consistently maintained her innocence, stating she was simply visiting family in Iran.

For the next several years, Nazanin’s husband, Richard, worked tirelessly in the UK to secure her release and return home, which finally happened in 2022 after six long years.

Richard and Nazanin both maintain that Nazanin was used as a political bargaining chip by Iran, connected to an unpaid debt the UK had owed for many years.

The UK government consistently claimed there was no connection between the two matters, but her release – and the release of other British citizens held in the same situation – only happened after the outstanding debt was settled.

Is Prisoner 951 based on a book?

It is, however viewers won’t be able to get their hands on it for some time yet.

The program ‘Prisoner 951’ draws from thorough research and the personal experiences of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, as detailed in their upcoming book, A Yard of Sky.

The book is scheduled to be released on the 3rd September 2026.

How accurate is Prisoner 951 to the true story?

This series tells the story of Nazanin and Richard Ratcliffe based on their personal experiences, so other people might remember events differently.

Right from the beginning of each episode, they give you a heads-up that some names have been altered for the show, and like with any true story brought to life on screen, certain scenes are dramatized or imagined. It’s a common practice, and honestly, it doesn’t detract from the overall impact – it just reminds you that you’re watching an interpretation of events, not a strict documentary.

Generally, Prisoner 951 seems to accurately reflect what actually happened.

Stephen Butchard, the writer, explained that their research involved interviewing people connected to the events, including government officials, and searching for records of meetings. He emphasized their commitment to accuracy, stating that everything depicted in the show is supported by documented evidence from the real events.

We interviewed Members of Parliament, politicians, and family members living in the UK to gather their recollections. Our priority was to ensure the story was accurate and grounded in facts, which is a key responsibility when creating a drama based on real events.

We interviewed people who had been held in detention, as well as representatives from related charities, Nazanin’s workplace, and human rights attorneys. Throughout this process, we gathered accurate and important details.

Director Philippa Lowthorpe shared that while filming, she constantly kept Nazanin and Richard’s memories from their book, alongside the screenplay, top of mind.

I frequently revisited and revised their writing to ensure it accurately reflected their personal experiences, she said.

Because the series is four hours long, it can’t include every important event from the six years it covers.

Butchard chose to begin the series by thoroughly detailing the initial stages of Nazanin and Richard’s difficult experience, then gradually show less detail as the story progressed. He did this to reflect how Nazanin and Richard likely felt as they went through it – with the beginning being overwhelming and the impact lessening, but still present, over time.

I tried to understand things from Richard and Nazanin’s perspective, starting from when their ordeal began. Thinking about those initial hours and days is crucial, because that’s when things were most terrifying. The first episode shows Nazanin being arrested at the airport, and Richard learning there might be an issue with his passport.

I’m really worried. No one seems to know exactly what’s happening, but things can change so quickly at Iranian airports. At first, we were told it might just be a short delay, maybe 24 hours. But then Richard was warned it could be much more serious – that Nazanin might have been abducted. And now, she’s just…gone. It’s terrifying.

I focused this first episode on the passing of hours and days because so much is happening with Nazanin and Richard. It’s really about exploring the raw, human emotions of our main characters.

That idea then sparked the thought that if the first episode covered ‘hours and days,’ the second episode could focus on ‘weeks,’ showing changes happening over that time period.

The story then moved to episode three, covering ‘months,’ and after Nazanin’s sentencing – when things seemed hopeless – the final episode focused on ‘years.’ I thought structuring it around these time periods worked well.

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2025-11-23 11:35