Prisoner 951 is a strong four-part BBC factual drama that recounts the true story of Nazanin Zaghari‑Ratcliffe, a British‑Iranian lady arrested in Iran in 2016 on spying costs she adamantly denied, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who campaigned for her launch.
Starring Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes, the sequence is written by Stephen Butchard and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe. Primarily based on the forthcoming memoir A Yard of Sky by Nazanin and Richard, the drama spans her arrest at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, years of imprisonment and starvation strikes, and her eventual launch in 2022.
Prisoner 951 premieres on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 23 November 2025.
Seeking to catch Prisoner 951 without spending a dime? This is methods to watch Prisoner 951 without spending a dime from wherever on the planet…
How one can watch Prisoner 951 without spending a dime on BBC iPlayer
The BBC’s on-line streaming web site, BBC iPlayer, is streaming Prisoner 951 without spending a dime — you’ll be able to catch all 4 episodes from November 23.
How one can watch Prisoner 951 on BBC iPlayer from wherever
BBC iPlayer is simply exhibiting Prisoner 951 without spending a dime to UK residents.
These touring or working exterior the UK might want to use a VPN to entry BBC iPlayer’s free sequence.
There are many VPNs, however NordVPN is the one you’ll be able to depend on to unblock BBC iPlayer and watch from wherever on the planet.
It is tremendous easy to make use of a VPN to look at Prisoner 951 on BBC iPlayer.
1. Set up the VPN of your alternative. As we have stated, NordVPN is our favourite.
2. Select the placement you want to hook up with within the VPN app. As an example, in the event you’re visiting the US and need to watch your free BBC iPlayer stream, you’d choose ‘United Kingdom’.
3. Sit again and benefit from the motion. Head to BBC iPlayer, check in, and watch Prisoner 951 docu-drama without spending a dime.
What units is BBC iPlayer out there on?
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Xbox (One, Collection X, Collection S)
Prisoner 951 – Full episode information:
▶︎ Episode 1
A girl is torn from her child, accused of crimes she didn’t commit and imprisoned in Iran. In London, her husband refuses to remain silent. So begins a marketing campaign to free her.
▶︎ Episode 2
Locked in solitary after her switch to Evin Jail, a hopeless Nazanin takes drastic motion. In London, Richard uncovers the explanation for his spouse’s abduction.
▶︎ Episode 3
Nazanin’s solitary ends, and he or she finds solace amongst fellow inmates. In London, a careless remark from an MP dangers derailing her case. Richard and Nazanin make an agonising household choice.
▶︎ Episode 4
Nazanin, nonetheless imprisoned, is heartbroken when her daughter returns to the UK. Richard should be taught to be a dad once more and decides to go on starvation strike to get his spouse house.
Q&A Interview with Joseph Fiennes (Richard Ratcliffe)
What did you study Nazanin and Richard’s story?
The large studying for me is waking as much as the notion that harmless folks – and on this case, an harmless particular person carrying twin nationality – could possibly be topic to State hostage taking. What we’re not conscious of are the behind-the-scenes occasions and points that invariably can have, because it did on this case, an impact on the non-public lives of harmless folks.
What I discovered unbelievable had been the broader occasions that surrounded Nazanin and Richard’s story. So, now I take a look at the information when somebody is accused by a rustic of spying and take into account that it may not be so easy. Because it pertains to this story, what I discovered extraordinary is the truth that the British MOD had engaged with Iran in manufacturing tanks after I was simply born in 1970, and 40 years on that debt had not been settled and paid due to sanctions. When sanctions had been lifted that debt was legally because of be paid as The Hague had come to that call. 40 years on an harmless mom and youngster, a household, are utterly decimated by the actions of a rustic that has determined to take a citizen as collateral for that debt. It is a story of atypical folks drawn into the horror of a rare state of affairs.
What drew you to the function?
In the beginning, it was Stephen’s writing which I felt to be politically partaking. It turns into a thriller of types, it’s totally actual, prescient and it is occurred in my time. I felt the extraordinary love story that evolves by way of the sequence, the love of relations, and between the prisoners who assist one another get by way of horrific occasions. There’s this human drama juxtaposed with the political, now we have two tales working alongside one another however they’re each joined on the hip by the notion of profound love and by how folks get by way of the darkest of instances, that is what drew me in.
The second motive was Philippa, assembly her and figuring out her work. When you’ve gotten extraordinary figureheads in our trade who’re main this type of topic it turns into actually enriching for me to be part of it.
Did you do any particular preparation for this function, like studying a talent or language?
It is attention-grabbing to speak about expertise, Richard’s talent is definitely auditing, he is a forensic auditor in order that’s his tremendous talent. I’ve acquired a sense part of that diligence actually put him forward of most of us in coping with this extraordinary disaster. Each time his phrase can be ‘present me the receipts’, that is his manner of attending to the reality.
I did not must learn to audit or go to accountancy faculty, however I did discuss to Richard at size for a number of hours. So far as analysis went it was a case of assembly him in particular person, feeling his spirit, sensing his physicality, listening to first-hand concerning the occasions he and his household needed to stay by way of; then marrying that to the script and my thought of Richard on the planet of our drama.
How was it getting ready to movie Richard’s starvation strike scenes?
Like all filming, the capturing schedule isn’t aligned with the timeline of the story, in some circumstances I’ve shot the very finish of a movie or sequence on the primary day. After we acquired to the sequence the place Richard is on starvation strike, the week earlier than, or the following, we might be right into a scene which might invariably be one the place he appeared a lot more healthy. So, there wasn’t an opportunity to go deep right into a lack of weight. Throughout these starvation strike shoot days I had plenty of teas and liquids moderately than solids however there wasn’t sufficient time within the schedule to take my physique bodily by way of what Richard would have gone by way of.
What was probably the most memorable scene to movie?
I’ve to say that what stands proud from me is the sisterhood within the jail, I like these scenes. I am not in them however I used to be on location on these days and noticed the recreation of the prisons. The set design and that sense of being there was made so vivid and actual by the extraordinary skills of our set and costume design groups.
However in any other case, I couldn’t single out a specific scene. The sequence is about love and household help. We’ve got a British household and a Persian household, though there are enormous cultural variations they had been all utterly the identical within the love and help for one another. I felt that the family-related scenes had been actually integral and I liked being in these exhibiting how that help helped Richard and Nazanin by way of this terrible chapter of their lives.
Learn the complete interview at bbc.co.uk
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