The new puzzles website is now live - sign up now and enjoy a 7-day free trial! Telling the story of the American occupation during the war of 2003, it features Muhsin Kadr al-Khafaji (a supremely good Waleed Zuaiter), a police inspector during the Saddam regime who now finds himself – like many other Iraqis – without a job, their present and future in limbo.

He’s too far away to hear the details of their conversation, but he can tell that the younger woman is frightened by her body language. “Why do you not appear surprised she has disappeared?” Khafaji rallies. You can unsubscribe at any time.

However, it soon becomes apparent that Khafaji has only become a collaborator in order to gain access to the secure Green Zone and further his search for his daughter. “Because women in today’s Iraq have a habit of disappearing.”.

Sign up for the latest news and must-read features from Stylist, so you don't miss out on the conversation. Does Professor Rashid know more than she’s letting on? However, Channel 4 writer Stephen Butchard has insisted that he simply took “inspiration” from the book and didn’t adapt it. We get the feeling that Temple (Bertie Carvel) is hiding things. Rashid, though, is resistant to his line of questioning, and is quick to point out that his badge no longer holds any authority.

About as intriguing a backdrop for a detective noir as you could ask for, with the obvious exception of Detective Pikachu. Episode guide, trailer, review, preview, cast list and where to stream it on demand, on catch up and download. Already have an account with us?

Baghdad Central is adapted from the 2014 novel of the same name written by American author and scholar of the Middle East, Elliott Colla. Baghdad Central has left us with many questions: what happened to Sawsan? This marks the first stage of the Iraq war which began on 19 March that same year.

There, he comes face-to-face with Professor Zubeida Rashid (Clara Khoury) – and quickly discovers that he may not have known Sawsan as well as he thought. This is a UKB crime drama developed for English languague broadcast TV; there are issues, but I found it well paced and very watchable.

If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Indeed, it is only through Mrouj that he learns Sawsan got a job working as an interpreter for the Coalition Authority.

Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. But Alice Troughton, director of the Channel 4 drama, says audiences first need to prove there's "an appetite for international drama", E3 While his aim of re-establishing an Iraqi police service looks laudable on the surface, something isn’t right.

As the episode reaches its close, we learn that Sawsan – along with her friends Amjad (Tawfeek Barhom), Sanaa (Nora El Koussour) and Zahra (Maisa Abd Elhadi) – are part of a secret resistance group. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. That, on 1 May 2003, President Bush declared the “end of major combat operations”, after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was set up to help form transitional governments and rebuild Iraq.

Saddam Hussein has been toppled and the country has descended into chaos.


“Even if what he says is true, even if the men who attacked Sanaa are unknown to him, he must be the first.”, “We are not fighters,” Zahra replies. We know, likewise, that the Iraqi government collapsed and the police force was disbanded. Indeed, as Mrouj points out: “Why is [my sister] working for people she didn’t like or trust? As Zahra sobs over her friend’s body, we are left wondering: what did these men do to Sanaa? Khafaji goes on to question Rashid about his daughter, asking her about the job she helped her to get with the Coalition – and the dollars she has been earning. If you prefer to digest your crime dramas and mull things over, however, don’t despair: the remaining episodes of Baghdad Central will air every Monday on Channel 4 at 10pm. “The book told a story we hadn’t seen before, although I used it as an inspiration rather than purely adapting it,” he said. This means that you can tune in to watch the second episode live on 10 February. In the first few scenes – which we are told take place in March 2003 – a number of explosions are shown rippling across the Iraqi skyline. Inside a shadowy building, Sawsan’s three friends meet without her (noting that she is “gone”) to decide the fate of the American man they are holding prisoner. “But, as her father, you will know that.”. All he wants to do is drink his coffee (although he takes care to do so away from the balcony, so that the Imam doesn’t see him), stay out of trouble and care for his youngest daughter, Mrouj (July Namir), following the death of his wife. “We can’t let him live,” Amjad says. Thanks! His words have a profound impact on Sanaa, who insists that “it is my shame and no one else’s”. That is the question posed in Baghdad Central (Channel 4), a new thriller set after the US invasion of Iraq. “We sent him the scripts and he understood the book stood on its own. Save up to £497* a year -Compare Lots of Deals - Switch in Minutes.

Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. As executive producer Kate Harwood said in a recent interview: “The point of view is Khafaji’s, it’s the Americans and the Brits who are ‘the other’.”. “Because she is an intelligent, patriotic woman,” Rashid tells him.
When pressed for more details – and when Khafaji insists he’s asking as a father, and not as a detective – Rashid relents… but only a little.

Khafaji goes to Zubeida's house demanding answers, but is surprised by the arrival of Frank Temple. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends. It soon becomes apparent, though, that there’s more to Sawsan’s job than “earning dollars”.

Baghdad Central, starring Altered Carbon’s Waleed Zuaiter, premiered on Monday 3 February at 10pm. It’s important to remember, though, that the events unfolding around Khafaji are very much based on reality. Does Professor Rashid know more than she’s letting on? Then, she shoots him in the head, before pressing the gun to her own temple and killing herself.

And Khafaji, his main recruit, needs to find out what.

“We have no choice.”. of 6, Nicola Adams reveals how she feels about being in Strictly’s first same-sex pairing: “I don’t see why it’s a big deal!”, JJ Chalmers reveals he already learnt this Strictly dance in Afghanistan, Max George thinks Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood is “harsh”, Caroline Quentin reveals “hardest” part about Strictly Come Dancing: “No question it’s difficult”. She wouldn’t.”.

For those of us who watched the news story unfold at the time, we know that Iraq fell to the US-led forces on 9 April 2003 – we all watched as the statue of President Saddam Hussein was toppled in Firdos Square. There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. When Khafaji first spies Rashid, he sees her speaking with a female student.

What we don’t know, however – what we have never been shown, in fact – is what all of this looked like from the point of view of an Iraqi.

Find out when Baghdad Central is on TV, including Series 1-Episode 3. As we learn early on in the episode, Khafaji hasn’t spoken to his eldest daughter for some time. Kayleigh Dray is Stylist’s digital editor-at-large. The Killing Times Dissecting the best crime drama on television and radio from around the world In Baghdad Central, then, we are up to our necks in intrigue. “Sawsan believes in a secular and free Iraq,” she says. But, when he learns that his eldest has gone missing, Khafaji dusts off his (now defunct) police badge and uses it to gain access to a university campus. Khafaji offers his services to Parodi as an investigator, and discovers that there is a connection between his daughter and one of the murdered men.

His luck changes, however, when he is brought before Frank Temple (Bertie Carvel), recently arrived from Britain and tasked with rebuilding the Iraqi Police Force.

All of this means that, yes, the murder mystery at its centre is fictional. Before he can take his investigations any further, a case of mistaken identity sees Khafaji become the victim of arrest and torture at the hands of the US military. Indeed, she adds, he will soon be seen as a trespasser. If you’re into binge-watching, you’re in luck: the entire series of Baghdad Central is now available to watch online via All 4.

Set in American-occupied Iraq in 2003, we learned that Muhsin Kadr al-Khafaji (Zuaiter) has been keeping his head down following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“We are students.

The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets He breaks into a trailer and comes across a cache of hidden dollars. Her specialist topics include comic books, films, TV and feminism. With Temple’s help, Khafaji is able to reclaim his identity as a detective, and promises to solve a murder for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). By entering your details, you are agreeing to Radio Times privacy policy.

As expected, though, the first episode – which opened with the disappearance of Khafaji’s estranged daughter Sawsan (Leem Lubany) – left us with more questions than answers.

What happened to Sawsan?

And why did she feel this was her only escape? Please do not use ALL CAPS. “The crime that she is a woman with her own ideology,” she responds simply. Last year we were children!”, “We are resistance now,” he rallies fiercely. And it is this unique POV which Baghdad Central hopes to bring to Western audiences. When he asks Rashid about this, she agrees with his assessment, telling him that her student had received a death threat.

Our best wishes for a productive day.

We needed a different story to sustain a six-hour series, so we took the relationship between Khafaji and his daughter Mrouj, then built everything else around that.”. And how much of this is based on a true story? Later, we see Khafaji apologise to Rashid for believing her to be involved in Sawsan’s disappearance – but, while we don’t suspect the unapologetic feminist of murder, we do have a feeling that Rashid knows more than she’s letting on, especially when it comes to Sawsan’s line of work. Last week’s opening episode of Channel 4’s Baghdad Central was hugely impressive.. Access exclusive energy deals! By entering my email I agree to Stylist’s. I'm always pleased to see a director post here.

His moustache is ‘confiscated’ – “it will be sent to Washington as an example,” he jokes – and he is bullied and berated for accepting a cigarette from his captors. As daylight breaks, she approaches their prisoner alone and removes the gag from around his mouth – making sure to do so gently, carefully.

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