It was a cold war.. but it’s a very hot one now
The UK has to defend itself against a malicious cyberattack in this timely new drama that will have you on the edge of your seat
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the biggest threats are sometimes the ones we don’t see. And as the title suggests, The Undeclared War’s premise is just that. This new hard-hitting drama from Channel 4 is set to keep us on our toes – if nothing else because, while the key characters are trying to decipher computer coding, we’ll be just as hard at work trying to unravel what they’re talking about.
Set in 2024, it stars newcomer Hannah Khalique-Brown, who plays a highly motivated student called Saara Parvin. Saara is in her second year of a computer science degree at Imperial College London when she secures an internship at the government’s Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
Within minutes of arriving at the malware department (one that looks at malicious software), Saara learns that the internet has gone haywire. It’s down to a meticulously planned cyberattack launched against the UK by persons unknown. We later discover it’s the Russians…
Saara’s ability to crack the cyberterrorists’ code gets her noticed by the top brass – Chief of Operations at GCHQ Danny Patrick, played by Hot Fuzz star Simon Pegg.
Even the Prime Minister – played by Trigger Point’s formidable Adrian Lester – seems vaguely impressed, despite being mostly preoccupied by how this will affect his chances at the next general election.
But episode one of this gripping six-parter is just the tip of the iceberg as Saara is drawn deeper and deeper into the government’s secret fight against cybercrime.
Here, some of the cast of the drama tell us more about what to expect…