Airdate: Baghdad Central

British crime thriller Baghdad Central premieres this week on SBS.

The 2020 series, adapted from a 2014 novel by Elliott Colla, was nominated for a Rose D’Or Award. The cast features Waleed Zuaiter, Bertie Carvel and Clara Khoury.

Baghdad 2003. Saddam Hussein has been thrown out of power and US-led Coalition forces now occupy Iraq. Muhsin Al-Khafaji, a care-worn but resilient ex-Iraqi Police Inspector no longer recognises the country that surrounds him. When his eldest and recently estranged daughter, Sawsan, goes missing he makes it his sole aim to track her down and bring her home.

Episode One:
Khafaji’s first important lead into Sawsan’s whereabouts is given to him by his younger daughter, Mrouj, who confesses that Sawsan had been earning dollars translating papers for the Coalition Authority. Mrouj also gives him the name of Sawsan’s university professor: Zubeida Rashid. But when he doorsteps her at the university, the Professor evades Khafaji’s questioning.

10:55pm Thursday on SBS.