BBC viewers can't stop watching 4-part drama Prisoner 951: 'Speechless'

Viewers were quick to take to social media to share their thoughts on the show, with one person writing on X, formerly Twitter: "Watching Prisoner 951 and I am speechless – the lies and deceit! I cannot stop watching – I'm on episode three. It's a painful watch. I know the conclusion but the tension is so real!"

Meanwhile, another penned: "Just watched @BBCOne's Prisoner 951, the story of Nazanin Zaghari's abduction by Iran. It's an absolute must-see," while a third added: "Almost too unbearable to watch but quite brilliantly written by Stephen Butchard and the two leads are superb."

The show has proved a hit with critics as well as viewers at home. In its four-star review, The Guardian wrote: "This tale of one family's six-year ordeal just highlights what an unserious country Britain became in that era. The cast, including Joseph Fiennes, are excellent."

Meanwhile, The Telegraph penned: "The excruciating passage of time is captured brilliantly, and you lose count of the number of times Nazanin is tormented by dashed hopes." 

The Times added: "It is a story told well, and intelligently, the nightmarish reality that at the drop of a hat an ordinary, oblivious person can be hijacked as a political bargaining chip and their life simply shredded."

The "extraordinary" true story follows Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen who was imprisoned and held hostage by the Iranian state for six years, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who campaigned for justice and her return.

The synopsis reads: "In 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is torn from her 22-month-old daughter, arrested, falsely accused of espionage and imprisoned in Iran. 

"Thousands of miles away, in London, her husband Richard refuses to stay silent and does everything in his power to bring her home. 

"When it is revealed that Nazanin is a pawn in a decades-old political dispute, Richard wages a campaign to free her, battling tyranny abroad and seeming indifference at home.

"Based on the first-hand accounts of Nazanin and Richard as well as extensive research, this powerful true story charts one family's extraordinary courage and resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity."

Leading the series are Narges Rashidi (Gangs of London, Under the Shadow, The Allegation) and Joseph Fiennes (Dear England, The Handmaid's Tale, Shakespeare in Love).

They're joined by Bijan Daneshmand (The Night Manager, EastEnders), Behi Djanati-Atai (Tehran), Kavé Niku (Black Mirror), Nicholas Farrell (Poirot, The Crown) and Marion Bailey (Murder Before Evensong).

Rounding out the cast are Alastair Mackenzie (Unforgotten, Vigil), Farzana Dua Elahe (Broadchurch) and Christopher Colquhoun (Fleabag).