BBC drama to explore Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment

The 46-year-old British-Iranian citizen was detained in Iran in 2016 and only returned to the UK in March 2022.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen, was detained in 2016 and only returned to the UK in March 2022 (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

A new BBC drama will explore the lengthy imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran.

The 46-year-old British-Iranian citizen was detained in 2016 and only returned to the UK in March 2022.

The four-part show will also look at the struggle of her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who went on hunger strike twice as part of his campaign for his wife’s release.

It will be based on the upcoming book A Yard of Sky: A Story Of Love, Resistance And Hope, written by the couple as a story of their struggle to get political action and Mrs Ratcliffe home.

The factual drama covers the period from the day she 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.

A BBC spokesman said: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe’s extraordinary experiences captured everyone’s hearts; their journey is one of despair, courage and hope, spanning two countries and six years, and ultimately, it’s a story of how this family, who were forced apart by international events, were finally reunited.”

It will be made by Fremantle-backed Dancing Ledge Productions – who also made the based on real life drama The Salisbury Poisonings and Martin Freeman-starring police show The Responder – for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.