Saara Parvan is hunting for a hidden door in a deserted school gymnasium. With time running out, she finally spots it: it\u2019s on the ceiling.\u00a0No problem<\/em> \u2013 the room rearranges itself as she turns upside down, walking forward purposefully and opening the door to reveal a sunlit garden.<\/p>\n Of course, Saara isn\u2019t really defying gravity \u2013 at least not in the physical world. The dream-like sequences \u2013 evoking both Inception and The Matrix \u2013 are visual metaphors for the genius hacker\u2019s code-cracking.<\/p>\n Like Keanu Reeves\u2019s character Neo in The Matrix, Saara \u2013 a 21-year-old student about to start a work experience placement at GCHQ \u2013 is preternaturally gifted, and she\u2019s fighting an always-moving, ever-evolving enemy. When Britain is the victim of a targeted cyberattack, she\u2019s ideally placed to prove herself.<\/p>\n Created by the same team behind Wolf Hall, The Undeclared War<\/a> \u2013 starring Simon Pegg, Adrian Lester and Mark Rylance \u2013 is set in the near future in 2024, when a post-Brexit and post-lockdown Britain is heading into a general election, and a well-timed cyberattack from an unknown source takes down the country\u2019s internet, with everything except social media impacted.<\/p>\n Enter Saara, whose first day on the job coincides with the attack. Blunt, intense, and desperate to prove to both herself and others that she\u2019s not a positive discrimination hire (\u201cI hope that\u2019s not why you picked me \u2013 because I\u2019ve got a brown face\u201d), she is quicker and more thorough than most of the self-styled \u201cmale, pale and stale\u201d GCHQ cohort who show her the ropes when she first arrives \u2013 although she struggles to read people as well as she understands numbers.<\/p>\n Newcomer Hannah Khalique-Brown leads the cast in her scene-stealing (and surely star-making)\u00a0breakout role as Saara, the audience\u2019s stand-in as she\u2019s introduced to the GCHQ Malware Department.<\/p> The dream-like sequences demonstrating Saara\u2019s programming gymnastics are a brilliant choice \u2013 they elevate the series far beyond the normal representations of cybersecurity onscreen, which usually involve a group of people clustered around a desktop and yelling at flashing green\u00a0numbers on a screen.<\/p>\n For those viewers with little knowledge of code or hacking, the metaphorical sequences not only demonstrate just how complex and difficult the task at hand is, but they also help demonstrate both Saara\u2019s skill and the high stakes she faces.<\/p>\n Alongside Khalique-Brown, the cast includes Simon Pegg as Danny Patrick, GCHQ\u2019s head of operations, and Adrian Lester as Britain\u2019s first Black Conservative prime minister who, we\u2019re told, ousted Boris Johnson in a particularly brutal fashion.<\/p>\n However, we soon learn that Andrew Makinde (Lester) is singing from the same hymn sheet (\u201cAnd this recession has nothing to do with Brexit, which is a huge<\/em> success\u201d), and is far more interested in poll numbers than the bigger picture.<\/p>\n Although he\u2019s not in the first episode, the series also stars Mark Rylance, who plays a veteran GCHQ analyst brought in following the cyber-attack, and who forms an unlikely bond with Saara.<\/p>\n With such a great pedigree, The Undeclared War was always going to attract attention, but this series exceeds expectations, guiding viewers by the hand through the complex world of cybersecurity \u00a0\u2013 and then refusing to relinquish its grip until the final episode.<\/p>\n The Undeclared War began at 9pm on 30th June 2022 on Channel 4, with episodes available to watch on All 4<\/a>. 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><\/body><\/html>\n By Flora Carr Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating Saara Parvan is hunting for a hidden door in a deserted school gymnasium. With time running out, she finally spots it: it\u2019s on the ceiling.\u00a0No problem \u2013 the room rearranges itself as she turns upside down, walking forward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17772,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix.jpg",1500,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix.jpg",1500,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/the-undeclared-war-review-brilliant-cyberattack-drama-recalls-the-matrix.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 Flora Carr Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating Saara Parvan is hunting for a hidden door in a deserted school gymnasium. With time running out, she finally spots it: it\u2019s on the ceiling.\u00a0No problem \u2013 the room rearranges itself as she turns upside down, walking forward…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/17771"}],"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\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/06\/67939S1The-Undeclared-War-4Creative-Poster-579071c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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