Original subtitles

LAUGHTER

CHATTER

The joke's of a reasonable standard, I think.

How does Good King Wenceslas...? PHONE RINGS

Not bad. They're only cheap crackers, after all.

Overseas.

Hello?

Richard, my love. Merry Christmas! Nazanin. My goodness!

Well, it's, erm, it's not quite Merry Christmas,

but, erm, so much the better for hearing your voice.

Are you eating? I am. I'm feeling much better.

Much, much better.

It's so good to hear your voice.

I've got good news.

I've been told they're moving me to the general ward.

Well, that is good news. That's what you need. Company.

I hope the other women will like me.

Of course they will. It's impossible not to like you.

Where are you?

I'm at my parents' house having Christmas dinner

and thinking about you the whole time.

And a Merry, Merry Christmas to all your beautiful family.

Are you wearing a paper hat?

Er, no. I will if you want me to.

You should.

For me.

Yeah. Then, erm, then I will, for you.

It's been snowing here. A white Christmas.

I've been imagining Gisou seeing the snow for the first time,

playing in the snow. I can hear her laughing, Gisou.

We'll do that together.

Play with her in the snow.

Erm, hey, do you, erm, do you throw snowballs in Iran?

Of course we throw snowballs. Goloole barfi.

What?

Erm...

..goloole barfi. It's Persian for snowball.

OK, so one day I'm going to hit you right on the nose

with a goloole barfi.

Is that a promise?

Promise.

This is my dad.

CHATTER

Very happy. Very happy.

Merci.

Nazanin? Nazanin!

Farah!

Nazanin...

Merci.

I want to say thank you for the kindness.

We've all felt it.

The response to the campaign has been overwhelming.

And if I may say first, thanks to the Hampstead mums

for their march past Trafalgar Square,

Downing Street, and to the Foreign Office,

where we sang and they came to their windows.

They heard us.

CHATTER, MUSIC

CHATTER, LAUGHTER

Assalaamu Alaikum.

Nazanin Zaghari.

CHATTER

DOOR OPENS

GREETINGS

Let me kiss you.

GREETINGS

FAREWELLS

BABY CRIES

BABY CRIES

SHE SNIFFS

Nazanin...

RICHARD: Five years.

After serving a third of her sentence,

she will be eligible for parole.

Should that be our next target?

Suddenly it feels real.

She's already served ten months.

That could mean parole within the next year.

Yeah, I said it feels real.

I don't for a minute believe we should be accepting it

as inevitable. We're discussing options, Rick. That's all.

Well, thank God she has Gabriella and her family.

Targeting parole would seem to be a very sensible option.

It would get her out of prison and with her family.

The Foreign Office would be onboard with that, I'm sure.

The minister has agreed to meet with us

to discuss his recent visit to Tehran.

We should listen to what he has to say.

He'll want to carry on where they left off last year,

talk about repatriating Gabriella. It's not an option.

I made a promise to bring Nazanin home.

That's what I'll do.

They come home together.

George will have updated you on the nuts and bolts of my meetings

in Tehran.

We focused heavily on all dual nationality cases.

They, of course, do not recognise dual nationality,

but I do feel, realistically, it was as successful as it could have been.

That's good to hear.

We have to get the Iranian judicial authorities on our side.

And once again, I am going to be open here -

I remain vehemently opposed to your strategy.

OK. You are venturing beyond the compassion of a father and a husband

and shifting more into a political space.

The Iranians see it the same and have said as such.

Nazanin being taken as a hostage is politically motivated.

Your campaigning is undermining what we're trying to achieve -

Nazanin's and others' release.

Their Deputy Foreign Minister had a record of every word spoken

by both me and you. He had the file sat upon his lap.

You criticising the Foreign Office looks like we are not communicating.

Going forward, we would like to present you as someone

desperate to be united with his family,

not someone interested in tank deals.

Yeah. Thank you for your, erm, sincerity and integrity,

but I've looked at other earlier cases of hostage taking,

and remaining silent has yielded those families no result whatsoever.

There has been unseen progress.

And if the Iranians are saying I'm political,

I take that to mean I'm an inconvenience.

That will not change.

Well, then, you are compounding the problem.

Perhaps Richard could write to President Rouhani himself,

as a husband and father.

Yes, but that would be better once Gabriella is back home,

then the content of the letter could be... She can't come back.

Gabriella is the only thing keeping Nazanin alive.

I will give you my mobile number, but I can only advise...

..it is unhelpful if we are not seen as one team.

Hold that criticism, share it with the world,

but only once she's out.

Richard. Richard, come here.

I think we should hear him. Give him a chance to cooperate.

Say what they want us to say?

No, no. They know you would never agree to that.

If he is now speaking directly to the Iranian ministry,

or judiciary even, it does make sense to work together in sync,

just see where it takes us.

So we back off talking about the debt? For now, yes.

We still press for parole, but we give the Foreign Office

the space and time they've requested.

It's your decision.

OK? Take a minute and think about it.

I agreed to keep quiet. What good did it do?

Did you see his fucking tweet? Tobias Ellwood.

Saying they're awaiting permission from the family

to repatriate Gabriella. Yeah, I've seen it.

I've had phone calls, emails, I've been doorstepped by journalists,

even, all with the same question slash accusation,

"Why am I being such a bad parent?

"Why am I leaving my two-year-old daughter languishing in Iran?

"Why won't I bring her home?" Well, ignore it.

Questions are planned and deliberate, designed to shift focus.

If the Government are asked about Nazanin, they want to be

talking about something other than the tank deal.

So that something, they've decided, is Gabriella.

All to save them the inconvenience of talking about money they've owed

and not paid for more than 40 years.

Welcome to Westminster.

I feel like now I'm fighting two governments,

the Iranians and my own.

What is it?

A gift.

From a complete stranger.

That's nice.

It is.

A blanket for you and Gabriella.

What is that you're knitting?

I'm making a cardigan. For me?

I think you dropped a stitch.

Nazanin? Nazanin?

SINGING

My darling Richard, the women here are so kind to me.

No matter how sad and scared they are,

how unkind the world has been to them, they care.

Humanity and goodness has never left them.

Did I say one of the older women helped me bake a cake

for Gisou's third birthday,

in a pan on top of the stove, would you believe?

It's incredible what resourcefulness they have.

They live in the present and they believe in the future.

But as the months slip by, my hope's fading...

..and I'm filled with an inescapable depression.

Tell me this will end.

Tell me I will be coming home.

I live for Gisou's visits.

I miss her cuddles when she's not here.

I miss you, my love,

I miss you.

Look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing.

She was simply teaching people journalism,

as I understand it...

Should've heard by now.

One hour till the House sits.

There's time yet. Do you know what you'll say?

Yes. Tell him she'll most likely be hauled into

an interrogation room because of this.

PHONE RINGS

Oliver Denton.

Hi. Your question has been accepted.

Thank you.

Question accepted.

My constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

has been in prison in Iran for 18 months now.

She's separated from her daughter, often in solitary confinement,

and denied access to medical treatment, all because

she was a British citizen having a holiday in Iran.

The Foreign Secretary, his ministers,

and even the Prime Minister will be aware of this

because I have raised the case countless times in the House.

It is not enough for the Foreign Secretary

not to know the basic details of the case.

It is unforgivable to repeat the lies

of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

And to say that I should be clearer, does not cut it

when it is a matter of life and death.

SHE SOBS

Richard, I've spent 18 months in prison,

nine months in solitary confinement.

I've endured nine months of interrogations,

all of the time speaking the truth.

Of course you were.

They say the British Government have admitted that I'm a spy.

And now there's to be a second trial.

My God.

But listen, I'm meeting with someone,

the man responsible, in fact, and good may come of it.

Why? Why did he say it at all? I don't understand.

A mistake. He has admitted he was mistaken.

But things are happening once again. Good things, we hope.

I've got to go.

I will bring you home.

Promise. Promise me.

I promise.

OK.

Know that I love you...

..and I miss you so very much.

I miss you.

Tulip!

Tulip ! Richard!

Sorry. I thought you might want to see this before you see him.

It's effectively saying Nazanin's a hostage,

and it talks about Boris paying the debt.

Well, that's interesting. That is interesting.

I mean, this is Johnson's newspaper, Johnson's mouthpiece.

After his fuck-up, maybe he wants to be seen to be,

you know, saving the day.

It might be useful if I recap our meeting with Foreign Secretary

Mr Johnson. He was clear that he was taking Nazanin's case very

seriously. He said that he thought the campaign had moved the country.

It was important for me to stress the urgency of Nazanin's situation.

We talked about his forthcoming trip to Iran.

We talked about whether I might accompany him.

He said he was keen to take me, but that was something

to be resolved within the Foreign Office.

I am hopeful that he will do everything he can

to bring Nazanin home by Christmas.

Did he apologise? We talked about what happens next,

how to help Nazanin now, and I'm very grateful for that.

First instincts, I was worried.

Boris still didn't have his facts clear.

He asked me how I enjoyed my trip to Iran with Nazanin,

as if I'd left her there.

But, to be fair, we all came out of the meeting thinking he'll sort it.

Get the debt paid. The people at The Sun wouldn't be saying this

if they didn't have knowledge of Treasury approval.

You would hope not.

Yeah. Can we check? Can we find out?

No, they won't share.

The Foreign Office still insists there is no link between the

detention of Nazanin and the moneys owed for non-delivered tanks.

All that said, it is impossible not to be hopeful.

And politically, it could well be that it is now or never.

Yeah, a month ago, we didn't matter.

His cock-up before that committee has changed all that.

Now he just needs to get it over the line.

Nazanin.

LAUGHTER

Do I decorate or wait...

..and we do it together?

ALL REPEAT

What are you going to have? Red or white?

Oh, it smells great. Great job.

Do you think this is big enough?

Can I just say? Let's toast the chef.

What a spread! Really? She's done it again.

And also, can I just say? Absent friends.

Yes. Of course. Fingers crossed. Merry Christmas.

ALL: Merry Christmas.

Cheers. Happy Christmas.

Richard...

..Boris Johnson has been and gone.

I know, and nothing.

The new charges against me, all of them fabricated.

I'm constantly being refused furlough,

not to mention parole.

Gisou is growing up without me.

Nothing. Nothing is changing, Richard.

Get me the fuck out of here.

Get me the fucking fuck out of here. Do you hear me?

I do, and I won't stop.

Every day, I'll be working to get you the fuck out of there,

believe me.

In a day of extraordinary drama at Westminster,

the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has become the second

senior minister to resign from Theresa May's government.

Well, Boris Johnson has led his political career as a colourful

maverick. Our deputy political editor John Pienaar

has been looking back at his time as Foreign Secretary.

Up or down, in or out of government...

Thank you for your service.

Good luck with your career, sir.

Onwards and fucking upwards, no doubt.

MUSIC PLAYS

CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

MUSIC STOPS

CHEERING, SINGING

Hey, Richard.

It's me. It's me. I'm out on furlough.

SHE SINGS LULLABY

Mama! Mama! Mama!

GREETINGS

LAUGHTER, GREETINGS

GREETINGS

CHATTER

PHONE RINGS

PHONE RINGS

She's, erm...

She's grown up.

She really has. She's just so wonderful.

Takes after her father.

Maybe.

Her mother will be 40 soon.

I always wanted to do a road trip around Italy for my 40th.

We can do that.

We will do that.

We will.

I will be 40 and then Gisou will be five the following June,

then school in the September.

Yes.

She must go to school in the UK

and be with at least one of her parents.

She must go home.

She will leave Iran aged five.

It makes sense, I suppose.

Of course it makes sense. I said it.

I want to kiss you.

I miss you so much. I miss you.

I want to make her a dress for her next birthday.

I'll need some fabric. Liberty fabric.

Liberty.

Mm. Really?

Ironic, but I like it.

I love you, and I'm very, very proud of you.

HE SOBS

I'm looking to buy some Liberty fabric.

It's for my wife. She's making a dress for our daughter.

Well, these are the Liberty fabrics.

Right.

I think this one.

And how old is your daughter? She's four.

Five next birthday.

I'd, erm, rather buy too much than too little.

OK.