{"id":17215,"date":"2022-06-21T01:01:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T23:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1664529"},"modified":"2022-06-21T01:29:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T23:29:23","slug":"the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"The Undeclared War writer talks real-life inspiration for chilling drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 21 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Channel 4\u2019s hot new drama is The Undeclared War<\/a>, an unnerving thriller set in 2024 that sees the UK face a series of cyber-attacks in the run-up to a general election.<\/p>\n

The series comes from BAFTA Award-winning writer\/director Peter Kosminsky (The Promise, The State), and while it may be set in the future, Kosminsky was quick to note when speaking at an event attended by RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other press that nothing in the six-episode run is far-fetched.<\/p>\n

Kosminsky said: \u201cThere is a hot war going on in cyberspace between a number of antagonists, in this particular case of Britain and Russia. And it\u2019s really dangerous. I think I was really shocked by the fragility of our hugely internet dependent society. And I just wanted people to be more aware of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Undeclared War is a cautionary tale. It\u2019s very thoroughly researched, it took five years to make. I\u2019m not saying this is the way things will turn out but I\u2019m saying there\u2019s nothing in this show that either hasn\u2019t happened, or is not being sort of \u2018war-gamed\u2019 by the people here and in other countries who try to prepare for this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kosminsky continued: \u201cThere are no techniques shown or strategies described that aren\u2019t happening and aren\u2019t real. The characters are fictional, completely fictional. And I call it a cautionary tale because I think that if we\u2019re not careful this hot war will escalate to the point where it threatens our civilisation. I think it\u2019s as serious as that. So that\u2019s why I wanted to tell the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Simon Pegg as Danny in The Undeclared War.<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The series sees the team at GCHQ fighting an online battle with unpredictable enemies that could grind the UK\u2019s infrastructure to a halt, with devastating impacts.<\/p>\n

It stars Hannah Khalique-Brown as\u00a0Saara Parvin, who finds herself on work experience at GCHQ when the first attack hits, while Simon Pegg plays Head of Operations at GCHQ Daniel Patrick and <\/span>Adrian Lester plays new Conservative Prime Minister Andrew Makinde.<\/p>\n

Producer Colin Callender explained that \u201cthe show came about as a result of a conversation that Peter and I had five years ago\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was actually an article in The New Yorker about active measures, about the role that governments have played in meddling in foreign governments\u2019 political process,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is obviously coming on the heels of the 2016 election, and we thought this was rich territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thought was, \u2018Let\u2019s do something historical\u2019 and it was Peter that said, \u2018No, no, no, let\u2019s do something set in the future, but about this notion that the new frontier is the cyber frontier\u2019. So the show grew out of that, and as Peter researched it more fully with access that only a filmmaker of Peter\u2019s calibre and track record could actually get, all the pieces of the story began to fall into place.\u201d<\/p>

Callender also explained that creating a show set in the near future presents the challenge of making sure the present day doesn\u2019t catch up with you \u2013 particularly in the era of COVID, with regulations around masks and social distancing changing so rapidly.<\/p>\n

However, he said: \u201cI have to pay tribute to Peter, I think he has navigated that piece rather brilliantly. And as you watch it sitting, not post-COVID because we don\u2019t know whether COVID\u2019s gone away, but sort of post the lockdowns and the experience we went through over the last couple of years, it still feels very fresh and immediate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Undeclared War will start at 9pm on 30th June 2022 on Channel 4. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our dedicated\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub for the latest news.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n

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By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 21 June 2022 at 12:00 am Channel 4\u2019s hot new drama is The Undeclared War, an unnerving thriller set in 2024 that sees the UK face a series of cyber-attacks in the run-up to a general election. The series comes from BAFTA Award-winning writer\/director Peter Kosminsky (The Promise, The State), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17216,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama.jpg",1500,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama.jpg",1500,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-writer-talks-real-life-inspiration-for-chilling-drama.jpg",1500,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 21 June 2022 at 12:00 am Channel 4\u2019s hot new drama is The Undeclared War, an unnerving thriller set in 2024 that sees the UK face a series of cyber-attacks in the run-up to a general election. The series comes from BAFTA Award-winning writer\/director Peter Kosminsky (The Promise, The State),…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/17215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}