Baghdad Central (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series is set in Iraq in 2003, shortly after the ousting of Saddam Hussein. It centres on former policeman Muhsin al-Khafaji (Waleed Zuaiter) as he tries to find his missing daughter, Sawsan (Leem Lubany). He is mistakenly arrested and tortured by United States troops, then recruited by a former British policeman, Frank Temple (Bertie Carvel), to become a police officer in the Green Zone.

Reader's Guide

Baghdad Central received mostly positive reviews according to aggregator websites, scoring 78 on Metacritic and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes as of May 2020. Waleed Zuaiter was a nominee for the Best Actor award in the 2021 British Academy Television Awards. The series offers a crime thriller perspective on the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, focusing on the personal story of a father searching for his daughter amid the chaos of occupation.

Did You Know?

• Filming began in September 2018 and took place in Morocco, including Ouarzazate, Rabat, Casablanca and Mohammedia.
• The series was first broadcast on Channel 4 in February 2020.
• Waleed Zuaiter was nominated for Best Actor at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards.
• The cast includes Corey Stoll as John Parodi and Neil Maskell as Douglas Evans.

Story, Setting & Ensemble

Set against the turbulent backdrop of post-Saddam Iraq in 2003, Baghdad Central follows the harrowing journey of Muhsin al-Khafaji, a former police officer portrayed by Waleed Zuaiter. His world shatters when his daughter, Sawsan, played by Leem Lubany, vanishes without a trace. In a devastating turn, Muhsin is wrongfully detained and subjected to torture by American soldiers, an experience that fundamentally reshapes his path forward. Rather than succumbing to despair, he is drawn into an unlikely partnership with Frank Temple, a retired British cop embodied by Bertie Carvel, who recruits him to serve as a police officer within the heavily guarded Green Zone. The ensemble surrounding these two leads is richly drawn: Clara Khoury brings gravitas as Professor Zubeida Rashid, July Namir appears as Mrouj, and Corey Stoll and Neil Maskell round out the supporting cast as John Parodi and Douglas Evans respectively. Fady Elsayed adds further depth in a recurring role as Ibrahim Jabani, weaving additional threads into the narrative tapestry of a nation in chaos.

Adaptation & Creative Vision

Baghdad Central owes its existence to the literary groundwork laid by Elliott Colla, whose 2014 novel provided the narrative foundation for what would become a British crime thriller series. Screenwriter Stephen Butchard took on the task of translating Colla's prose into a television format, reshaping the source material for a broader audience while preserving its core tensions and emotional stakes. At the helm of the production stood director Alice Troughton, whose vision guided the on-screen realization of this politically charged story. The project represents a notable example of a British television production tackling the Iraq War era from a perspective that centers Iraqi characters and their lived experiences, rather than the more familiar Western military viewpoint. This creative pipeline—from novel to screenplay to directorial execution—gave the series a layered authorship that informed its tone, pacing, and thematic focus. The result, first broadcast in 2020, carried the weight of three distinct creative voices working in concert to bring a story of personal loss and institutional corruption to life on screen.

Production & Filming Locations

Bringing the streets of post-invasion Baghdad to life required a production that traveled far from the Middle East. Principal photography commenced in September 2018 and was staged across multiple locations in Morocco, a country whose diverse architecture and landscapes have long served as a stand-in for various international settings in film and television. The crew spread across four distinct Moroccan cities—Ouarzazate, Rabat, Casablanca, and Mohammedia—each contributing different visual textures to the final product. Ouarzazate, with its famous desert studios and ancient kasbahs, likely provided the rugged, war-torn backdrops, while the more urban settings of Rabat, Casablanca, and Mohammedia offered the dense cityscapes necessary to evoke the Green Zone and surrounding neighborhoods. This multi-city approach in Morocco allowed the production team to capture a wide range of environments without the logistical and political challenges of filming in Iraq itself, ultimately shaping the visual identity of a series that premiered on Channel 4 in February 2020.

Reception, Broadcast & Recognition

Upon its debut on Channel 4 in February 2020, Baghdad Central was met with broadly favorable critical response, a pattern that persisted in the months following its release. By May 2020, the series had accumulated a Metacritic score of 78 and an 83 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, figures that signal strong consensus among reviewers. The show's international reach extended to the United States, where it found an audience through the streaming platform Hulu. Perhaps the most significant validation of the production came in the realm of acting recognition: Waleed Zuaiter, whose portrayal of Muhsin al-Khafaji anchors the entire narrative, received a nomination for Best Actor at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards. This BAFTA nod placed the series in the conversation alongside other major British television productions of the period and highlighted the emotional depth Zuaiter brought to a role demanding both vulnerability and resilience. The combination of critical praise and award-season acknowledgment cemented Baghdad Central as a standout entry in the crime thriller genre.

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