Hulu has boarded British drama Baghdad Central. The SVOD service will air in the U.S. in 2020 after striking a deal with Fremantle for the Channel 4 series.
Produced by Hard Sun producer Euston Films, the series is based on the novel by Elliott Colla and is written by The Last Kingdom scribe Stephen Butchard.
It is the latest international series picked up by Hulu after deals for Das Boot, This Way Up and Prisoners of War.
Starring Waleed Zuaiter, Corey Stoll, Bertie Carvel, Clara Khoury, Leem Lubany, July Namir, and Neil Maskell, the series is set in October 2003 in Baghdad after Saddam Hussein has fallen and the city lies at the center of the coalition’s efforts to secure the region.
In the midst of this chaos, crime and paranoia, Iraqi ex-policeman Muhsin al-Khafaji, played by Zuaiter, has lost everything and is battling daily to keep himself and his sick daughter, Mrouj, played by Namir, safe. But when he learns that his estranged elder daughter Sawsan, played by Lubany is missing Khafaji is forced into a desperate search to find her. He soon finds himself up against her enigmatic university tutor, Professor Zubeida Rashid, played by Homeland’s Clara Khoury and discovers that Sawsan and her two close friends Sanaa (Nora El Koussour) and Zahra (Maisa Abd Elhadi) have been leading a hidden life that’s led them into great danger.
Khafaji feels powerless until he meets Frank Temple, an ex-Police Officer played by Carvel, who has arrived from Britain on a mission to rebuild the Iraqi Police Force from the ground up. Temple recruits ex-cop Khafaji to give his operation some much-needed local credibility. But unbeknown to both Temple and his nemesis, upstanding American Military Police Captain John Parodi, played by Stoll, Khafaji is compelled by his own, secret reasons to risk everything by collaborating with the occupying forces. Meanwhile a new threat represented by security op Douglas Evans, played by Humans’ Neil Maskell provides a terrifying and sinister counterforce to his efforts.
Khafaji quickly discovers that Sawsan’s disappearance is linked to the murder of an American employee and so entwines himself in that investigation to uncover the truth about what has happened to his daughter and her friends. But, as the addictive, thrilling world of Baghdad Central unfolds, he soon finds himself embarking on a wider quest for justice in a society that’s become truly lawless.
Charlotte Spencer, July Namir, Tawfeek Barhom, Youssef Kerkour, Hisham Suleiman, Nora El Koussour and Maisa Abd Elhadi round out the cast.
The six-part series is exec produced by Euston Films boss Kate Harwood, Stephen Butchard and Alice Troughton. Producer is Jonathan Curling (The Secret).
Caroline Kusser, EVP, Co-production and Distribution, US, International, Fremantle said, “Baghdad Central is a powerful crime story told from a very unique perspective. Taking place in a period of history that we’re all familiar with, the story is told from a unique perspective. Full of twists and turns; things and characters are not always what they seem, and we’re sure that Hulu’s audiences will be gripped by this series as the truth behind the secrets are revealed.”
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