New thriller explores ‘The Undeclared War’

Thursday: The Undeclared War - (Channel 4, 9pm)
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What would happen if Britain fell victim to a cyber-attack? It’s a scenario Channel 4 is clearly keen for us to imagine.

Not only are they bringing us The Undeclared War, which tackles that very premise, they also promoted it with a trailer in the style of an emergency government warning.

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The channel admits there is a precedent for blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Zaid Al-Qassab, Chief Marketing Officer, Channel 4, said: “Since Orson Welles first terrified the nation with his War of the Worlds broadcast, the idea of feeling that the nation is at the centre of a drama has thrilled audiences.

Adrian Lester (ANDREW), Hannah Khalique-Brown (SAARA) & Simon Pegg (DANNY)Adrian Lester (ANDREW), Hannah Khalique-Brown (SAARA) & Simon Pegg (DANNY)
Adrian Lester (ANDREW), Hannah Khalique-Brown (SAARA) & Simon Pegg (DANNY)

“Channel 4’s new drama, The Undeclared War, is so relevant to our current global context that we wanted viewers to feel the jeopardy to our very way of life. We think this campaign really brings the reality of cyber war into people’s homes.”

Many viewers will have realised it wasn’t real when the Prime Minister delivering the warning that we didn’t need to panic buy food turned out to be Rt Hon Andrew Makinde (played by Adrian Lester) rather than Boris Johnson. And then there was Head of Operations at GCHQ Daniel Patrick, who looked suspiciously like Simon Pegg. However, the stunt reportedly still generated some complaints to Ofcom.

Perhaps some people would suggest that by simply making us aware that The Undeclared War stars Lester and Pegg, the trailer did its job. If they weren’t enough to entice viewers, the cast also includes Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Alex Jennings, Hattie Morahan, Ed Stoppard, Kerry Godliman and Oscar-winner Mark Rylance.

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It also has an impressive pedigree off-camera – it’s created, directed and co-written by multiple BAFTA-winner Peter Kosminsky.

Adrian Lester (Andrew), Hannah Khalique-Brown (Saraa) and Simon Pegg (Danny)Adrian Lester (Andrew), Hannah Khalique-Brown (Saraa) and Simon Pegg (Danny)
Adrian Lester (Andrew), Hannah Khalique-Brown (Saraa) and Simon Pegg (Danny)

Set in post-pandemic 2024 in the run-up to a general election, the six-part thriller explores the possible consequences of a cyber-attack and asks how you can win a war that most of the public doesn’t know you are fighting.

In the opening episode, 21-year-old Saara Parvin (Hannah Khalique-Brown), a second-year computer science student at London University, lands a coveted internship at Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ). Her first day happens to coincide with a stress test, designed to check the security of the telecommunications infrastructure. When a significant part of the UK’s internet goes down, it’s initially assumed to be as a result of the test, but it soon becomes apparent it was the result of a deliberate attack.

When Saraa then joins GCHQ’s Malware Department, which is working to find out how the virus was unleashed, she unexpectedly finds herself on the frontline of a cyber war. No matter how realistic that trailer may have looked, The Undeclared War is a work of fiction. However, as its creator Kominsky points out, the issues it tackles may be realer than some of us would like to think.

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He says: “The series is based deep within the least-known arm of the UK’s intelligence infrastructure, GCHQ. The story we’re now able to tell casts an extraordinary, revelatory light on the hot, undeclared war taking place right now in the world’s newest and most invisible domain of conflict – cyber.”