U.K.’s Channel 4 Developing ISIS Drama

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 is developing a TV drama about the jihadist unrecognized Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and British Muslims who decide to fight for it.

A spokeswoman for Channel 4, which has been looking for more international co-productions, confirmed that the untitled drama was in its very early stages of development. The exact form and length will be determined later, but talks have been around a two- or three-part show, she said.

Peter Kosminsky, currently directing miniseries Wolf Hall for the BBC and PBS, will write the Channel 4 series after a half-year research period. He is developing the project with former Channel 4 drama head Liza Marshall‘s recently launched production firm Archery Pictures, Broadcast magazine reported.

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Marshall and Kosminsky, known for tackling sensitive topics, previously collaborated on Channel 4’s 9/11 drama Britz, which featured a British Muslim family’s experience after the terrorist attack.

Channel 4 expects production on the ISIS project to start in 2015, with the show to air in 2016. The drama is expected to be based on research but will revolve around fictional characters and storylines.

It will “seek to cast light on why a small number of British-born Muslims might be tempted to travel to Syria or Iraq to live in and fight for the self-declared Islamic State,” Channel 4 said. “The story will be fictional, though, as with all of Kosminsky’s dramas, it will be rooted in thorough research.”

Email: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai

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