REMOTE CONTROL
WALEED ZUAITER AND BERTIE CARVEL STAR IN A NEW DRAMA SET IN OCCUPIED IRAQ…
Blending a thriller with recent political history, six-part drama Baghdad Central is set in Iraq in 2003, when the country was under the rule of a Us-led coalition. It’s an uneasy time for the nation, but particularly so for former police inspector Muhsin al-khafaji (Waleed
Zuaiter), whose daughter is missing and may be in danger. Meanwhile, British policeman Frank Temple (Bertie Carvel) is tasked with rebuilding the Iraqi Police Service, and he wants Khafaji to help him…
Waleed, what was the draw of this series for you?
Waleed I didn’t want to do the audition – I’d not long lost my father, so I was feeling really down, but my agent had been tracking it for a couple of years and said, “It feels like it’s been written for you.” I didn’t want to play another accented Arab on Western television, but when I did the self-tape audition and spoke the words, I had a feeling that this character and project were special. The writing is so rich and character-driven.
Bertie, how has Temple ended up in Iraq?
Bertie In my head, Temple has worked in the public sector for a long time, and he sees an opportunity for power and influence – and maybe to do some good. But because you’ve got this military occupation, one realises how thin civilisation is. In extreme circumstances, people can start to behave in a slightly medieval way.
The show switches between English and Arabic – what was that like to film?
Waleed It was just a matter of committing to it once we got
into it. To the audience, it’s obviously in English sometimes, but for us, it was as if we were speaking in Arabic, because it’s that intimate world.
Bertie I had a scene in Arabic, but they cut it. I’m not kidding! I thought it was a really smart piece of character-writing that of course Temple would have tried to learn Arabic – but it must have been terrible!