The Stage

BBC shorts on Iraq to star Branagh, Walter and Malik

Published Thursday 24 January 2008 at 14:25 by Matthew Hemley

Kenneth Branagh, Harriet Walter and Art Malik are to appear in a series of short BBC dramas to make the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Called 10 Days to War, the dramas will tell the story of the lead up to military action and are part of a project that marks the first collaboration of its kind between BBC Vision and BBC News.

All of the films, which will last between ten and 12 minutes, will be screened in the Newsnight slot on BBC2 from March 10 until March 19 and then on a number of the Corporation’s digital outputs, including iPlayer and BBC4.

They are part of Think Big, a project established by director of BBC Vision Jana Bennett to create multi-platform content.

Branagh will feature in the last of the films as Colonel Tim Collins, whose speech to British soldiers hours before they entered into battle in Iraq made headlines around the world. The drama follows him as he prepares to cross the border into Iraq.

Another film will see two Labour MPs battle with loyalty and personal conscience as they are faced with the House of Commons vote on the war.

BBC2 controller Roly Keating said: “This is a challenging and original way of exploring one of the most controversial moments in recent British history. By broadcasting daily we hope audiences will be able to recapture that exciting sense of huge events unfolding unpredictably in real time.”

The dramas are being written by Ronan Bennett, who said the films would not “exploit retrospect or hindsight” but “tell the story as it was known then to the people it most affected”.

Filming has started in Jordan and full casting will be announced soon.