Prisoner 951 is a powerful four-part BBC factual drama that tells the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman arrested in Iran in 2016 on espionage charges which she strongly denied, and her husband. Richard Ratcliffewho campaigned for his release.
Starring Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes, the series is written by Stephen Butchard and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe. Based on the upcoming memoir one meter of sky of Nazanin and Richard, the drama spans their arrest at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, years of prison and hunger strikes, and their eventual release in 2022.
Prisoner 951 premieres in BBC one and BBC iPlayer in November 23, 2025.
looking to catch Prisoner 951 free? Here’s how to watch Prisoner 951 Free from anywhere in the world…
How to watch Prisoner 951 for free on BBC iPlayer
The BBC’s online streaming site, BBC iPlayer, is streaming Prisoner 951 free: you can watch all four episodes starting November 23.
How to watch Prisoner 951 on BBC iPlayer from anywhere
BBC iPlayer only shows Prisoner 951 free for UK residents.
Those traveling or working outside the UK will need to use a VPN to access the free BBC iPlayer series.
There are many VPNs, but NordVPN is the one you can trust to unblock BBC iPlayer and watch from anywhere in the world.
It’s super easy to use a VPN to watch Prisoner 951 on BBC iPlayer.
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we have said, NordVPN It’s our favorite.
2. Choose the location you want to connect to in the VPN app. For example, if you’re visiting the US and want to watch your free BBC iPlayer stream, you’ll need to select “United Kingdom.”
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to BBC iPlayer, log in and watch Prisoner 951 free docu-drama.
What devices is BBC iPlayer available on?
You can use BBC iPlayer on all of the following devices and platforms:
amazon fire (Tablets, Cube, Stick, Televisions)
android tv (please note: some models are not supported)
Android (Mobile and tablet) – Android 7.0 and higher
Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)
Google TV
Freely
free satellite (please note: some models are not supported)
DTT playback (TV and decoders)
iOS (iPhone and iPad) – iOS 14 and above
LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)
NOW smart sticks and boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Playstation (PS4 and PS5)
roku (TVs with Stick and Roku OS, minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Samsung smart TVs (2017 and later: 2016 models only offer TV on demand)
Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream
Virgin media (360, stream, TiVo)
TuSee (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)
xbox (One, X Series, S Series)
Prisoner 951 – Complete Episode Guide:
▶︎ Episode 1
A woman is torn from her baby, accused of crimes she did not commit, and imprisoned in Iran. In London, her husband refuses to remain silent. Then a campaign begins to free her.
▶︎ Episode 2
Locked in solitary confinement after her transfer to Evin Prison, a desperate Nazanin takes drastic measures. In London, Richard discovers the reason for his wife’s kidnapping.
▶︎ Episode 3
Nazanin’s loneliness ends and she finds solace among her fellow prisoners. In London, a careless comment from an MP risks derailing his case. Richard and Nazanin make an agonizing family decision.
▶︎ Episode 4
Nazanin, still imprisoned, is heartbroken when her daughter returns to the UK. Richard must learn to be a father again and decides to go on a hunger strike to get his wife back home.
Q&A Interview with Joseph Fiennes (Richard Ratcliffe)
What did you learn about Nazanin and Richard’s story?
The big learning for me is waking up to the notion that innocent people – and in this case, an innocent person with dual nationality – could be subject to hostage taking by the State. What we are not aware of are the behind-the-scenes events and issues that can invariably have, as they did in this case, an effect on the private lives of innocent people.
What I found incredible were the broader events surrounding Nazanin and Richard’s story. So now I watch the news when someone is accused by a country of spying and I consider that it may not be that simple. When it comes to this story, what I found extraordinary is the fact that the British Ministry of Defense had committed to Iran to make tanks when I was just born in 1970, and 40 years of that debt had not been settled or paid due to sanctions. When the sanctions were lifted, the debt had to be paid legally, since The Hague had made that decision. 40 years of an innocent mother and a son, a family, are completely decimated by the actions of a country that has decided to take a citizen as collateral for that debt. It is a story of ordinary people dragged into the horror of an extraordinary situation.
What attracted you to the role?
Firstly, what I found politically attractive were Stephen’s writings. It becomes a kind of thriller, it is very real, prophetic and it happened in my time. I felt the extraordinary love story that develops throughout the series, the love of family members and between prisoners who help each other overcome horrible events. There is this human drama juxtaposed with the political, we have two parallel stories, but they are both united by the notion of deep love and how people overcome the darkest moments, that is what attracted me.
The second reason was Philippa, meeting her and knowing her work. When you have extraordinary figures in our industry leading these kinds of issues, it’s really empowering for me to be a part of it.
Did you do any special preparation for this position, such as learning a skill or language?
It’s interesting to talk about skills, Richard’s skill is certainly auditing, he’s a forensic auditor, so that’s his super skill. I have a feeling that some of that diligence really put him ahead of most of us in dealing with this extraordinary crisis. On each occasion his phrase would be ‘show me the receipts’, that is his way of getting to the truth.
I didn’t have to learn how to audit or go to accounting school, but I spoke with Richard at length for several hours. As for the investigation, it was about meeting him in person, feeling his spirit, intuiting his physicality, hearing first-hand the events that he and his family had to live through; Then marry that with the script and my idea of Richard in the world of our drama.
What was it like preparing to film Richard’s hunger strike scenes?
Like all filming, the filming schedule is never aligned with the timeline of the story; In some circumstances I have shot the end of a movie or series on the first day. When we got to the sequence where Richard was on a hunger strike, the week before or the week after, we would be in a scene where he invariably seemed much healthier. Therefore, there was no possibility of further weight loss. During those hunger strike days, I drank a lot of teas and liquids instead of solids, but there wasn’t enough time in my schedule to physically take my body through what Richard would have gone through.
What was the most memorable scene to film?
I have to say that what catches my attention the most is the brotherhood in the prison, I love those scenes. I’m not in them but I was outside those days and saw the recreation of the prisons. The set design and that feeling of being there was made so vivid and real thanks to the extraordinary talents of our set and costume design teams.
But otherwise, I couldn’t highlight one scene in particular. The series is about love and family support. We have a British family and a Persian family, although there are huge cultural differences, they were all completely equal in love and support for each other. I felt like the family-related scenes were really integral and I loved being in them showing how that support helped Richard and Nazanin through this terrible chapter in their lives.
Read the full interview at bbc.co.uk
You can also enjoy watching:
The best televisions for all budgets
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Access a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protect your online security and strengthen your online privacy when you are abroad. We do not support or tolerate illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Future Publishing does not endorse or approve the consumption of paid pirated content.
