The Stage

Bowker pens Iraq drama for BBC1

Published Friday 27 June 2008 at 15:40 by Matthew Hemley

Blackpool writer Peter Bowker has penned a new three-part drama series for BBC1 about three British soldiers serving in Iraq.

Occupation traces the lives of these soldiers, from the invasion of Basra in March 2003, to the present day, and was inspired by factual research carried out by Bowker.

It is being made by Life on Mars producer Kudos Film and Television.

Bowker said: “It isn’t a message piece in the sense that it can be boiled down to a simple take on the invasion of Iraq and its consequences. It’s a story about three men who are united in battle, but are torn apart by the aftermath.”

Derek Wax, who is executive producing the series for Kudos, praised Bowker’s ability “to get inside the heads of these characters” and to explore the “chaos and madness” of this post-war period in Basra.

“This is a fiercely compelling story spanning the aftermath of the most significant war in recent history, a war that leaves so many huge questions unanswered,” he added.

Filming starts in September and the drama will be shown in 2009.