Prisoner 951 writer reveals why Boris Johnson wasn’t cast with “buffoon” performance in Zaghari-Ratcliffe drama

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When Stephen Butchard was writing his book, Prisoner 951, he faced many challenging questions, one of which was whether to include Boris Johnson. As Foreign Secretary, Johnson was heavily involved in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held in Iran for six years starting in 2016. Her husband, Richard, tirelessly campaigned for her release in the UK, even resorting to a hunger strike to keep her story in the public eye.

In November 2017, Boris Johnson mistakenly told a parliamentary committee that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran just to teach journalism. Although this was quickly corrected – she was actually visiting family – Iranian officials used his error as evidence that she was working against the government by spreading propaganda.

Johnson’s comments clearly put Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe at greater risk while she was detained, and likely led to Iran extending her sentence. After her release in 2022, Zaghari-Ratcliffe told Johnson that his words had haunted her for four and a half years. Because of this, Butchard felt he couldn’t overlook Johnson’s role in the situation. However, including a character based on Johnson could be a distraction, taking attention away from the main story and altering its emotional tone.

Butchard decided against using an actor to portray Boris Johnson. He felt Johnson is already such a recognizable and exaggerated figure that having an actor play him would come across as silly and inauthentic. Instead, he made the clever choice to feature Johnson himself in the role.

Filmmakers often use old news footage and have actors react to what’s said in it. This technique, and the choices behind it, helped shape the story of Prisoner 951, guiding the vision of director Philippa Lowthorpe and actors Joseph Fiennes and Narges Rashidi as they developed the narrative.

The show is a political thriller with a central love story, explains director Lowthorpe, who started her career with documentaries and later directed dramas like ‘Five Daughters’ – a co-writing project with Butchard about the 2006 Ipswich murders. She describes the new series as the story of an average couple unexpectedly drawn into international politics, finding themselves in a surreal and frightening situation simply because one of them happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Joseph Fiennes, who portrays Richard in the film, explains that they initially called the project ‘Love Story’ because love is at its core. The movie focuses on the love between Nazanin and Richard, the deep bond between parents and their child, and the support and love provided by both of their families, who helped them navigate a difficult situation.

Narges Rashidi, who portrays Nazanin, explains that the show is a political drama focusing on ordinary people caught up in political events. She describes the core of the story as a woman being unfairly punished, a man desperately trying to reunite his family, and the lasting impact on a young child.

When Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested, her young daughter, Gabriella, was with her. Gabriella stayed with her grandparents in Iran and was allowed to visit her mother in prison. The story reveals many difficult moments, such as Gabriella needing a translator when she finally came to the UK to begin school, as she hadn’t learned English. The book, detailing Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, highlights the very human and relatable experiences of both Nazanin, her husband Richard, and their families.

The new book, Prisoner 951 – based on the experiences of Nazanin and Richard – is also a love story, which raises an interesting point: how do you show that love when you’re separated by 3,000 miles? As a good story should, it needs to demonstrate their connection rather than just state it.

Lowthorpe explains that the story powerfully starts with the phone call that marked the beginning of Nazanin and Richard’s ordeal. However, it was crucial to also depict their life before, so she included short scenes – like photos from a family album – showing their weddings in both Iran and the UK, and moments with their daughter. This visual motif of snapshots appears throughout the series, offering relatable glimpses of their relationship and highlighting what they stand to lose when they are separated. These moments emphasize the stakes and what they are fighting for.

Truly connecting with this story means recognizing the characters as real individuals. This leads us to consider the work of Ralph Fiennes and Zendaya – specifically, how they brought these roles to life with their performances.

As a film buff, I’ve always been fascinated by how actors become someone else, and Ralph Fiennes recently talked about his process. He explained that he begins by really dissecting the person’s physicality – how they move, how they hold themselves, everything. It’s a very detailed approach, which makes sense considering he’s had a lot of success portraying real-life figures – people were blown away by his performance as Gareth Southgate in the play Dear England!

Interviews can be tricky because they’re not always natural. It’s often more insightful to speak with someone who knows the person well, rather than the person directly. In Richard’s case, he was very approachable. I spent a lot of time with him, trying to understand his personality, energy, and intelligence. Then, I used all of that to shape my portrayal of the character.

Rashidi immersed herself in learning about the couple’s situation, reading all available material, watching interviews, and carefully studying a documentary. She only read the portion of a book, ‘A Yard of Sky,’ written by Nazanin, as Philippa didn’t want anyone to see Richard’s side of the story. Rashidi found this subjective approach helpful. She believes, and Fiennes likely agrees, that once you’ve done thorough research, asked all the right questions, and given it your best effort, all you can do is hope for the best.

Butchard believed the goal of asking these questions and finding answers was simply to get to the truth. He explained that facts and truth aren’t always the same – something can feel true even if it isn’t a hard fact. However, he emphasized that being truthful is essential, as dishonesty undermines the story’s believability.

Does this emphasis on truth also apply to characters created for fiction? According to the author, it absolutely does. If a character’s actions feel unbelievable, it crosses the line into melodrama and loses the audience. This is something they consider daily while writing the second series of ‘This City Is Ours’. The core truths behind ‘Prisoner 951’ are that maintaining hope is a form of defiance, and that in March 2022, the UK government finally paid a long-standing debt of almost £400 million to Iran. Remarkably, the following day, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released.

I asked Rashidi which scenes were the hardest to film, and she joked that it was easier to ask which scenes weren’t difficult. She explained that while most hour-long dramas have about three emotionally intense scenes, this project covered six years of a complex journey, meaning they filmed around eight such scenes every single day. She said this wasn’t just exhausting, but completely draining.

You know, after really connecting with a powerful film, it’s tough to just move on. How do you process something that’s moved you so deeply and get back to everyday life? Well, as director Lowthorpe puts it, maybe you can’t – and maybe you shouldn’t try to completely shut it off. He believes a director – and I think this applies to really letting a movie affect you too – needs to be vulnerable, to really feel the emotions the story evokes. If you try to stay detached, the audience will sense that distance. It’s about allowing yourself to be a little sad, a little moved, and then remembering that it’s not your life, but a story you’ve been privileged to witness.

For Rashidi, this role held a special meaning. Having been born in Iran and leaving at a young age, he felt a strong connection to the character and rediscovered aspects of his Iranian heritage, even through speaking the language. What helped him step away from the emotional intensity of the role was remembering that while filming was demanding over four months, he could always return to the comfort of home. He kept in mind that this story was based on a real person’s six-year ordeal and ongoing struggles.

Ralph Fiennes explains that the experiences of playing a character stay with an actor long after the role is over. While new projects might temporarily push those memories into the background, each character becomes a part of who the actor is. He describes deeply immersing himself in a role – living, breathing, and connecting with the character’s journey – and finding that even amidst hardship, something positive and meaningful can emerge. He beautifully summarizes this by saying that even from difficult experiences, something beautiful can grow – ‘out of the mud, arises the lily.’

Prisoner 951 will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Sunday 23rd November 2025.

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2025-11-18 04:19