Once Upon a Time in Iraq

Once Upon a Time in Iraq is a 2020 British documentary television miniseries directed by James Bluemel and narrated by the British-Iraqi actor Andy Serkis.^[1][2] Composed of five episodes, it features interviews with Iraqi citizens, American military personnel and international journalists about the Iraqi conflict and its effects on the Iraqi people.^[3][4]

Once Upon a Time in Iraq
Poster
Genre	Documentary
Narrated by	Andy Serkis
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original languages	English Arabic
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	5
Production
Executive producers	Will Anderson Andrew Palmer
Producer	Jo Abel
Running time	296 minutes (BBC) 113 minutes (PBS)
Production company	KEO Films
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	13 July (2020-07-13) – 10 August 2020 (2020-08-10)

Overview

The series chronologically covers the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein, and its subsequent occupation of Iraq (2003–2011); the first phase of the Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006); the Iraqi Civil War (2006–2008); the post-US withdrawal insurgency (2011–2013); and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), an armed conflict between the Iraqi Armed Forces and its allies against the Islamic State.

The first episode was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 13 July 2020.^[2] A heavily edited, single-episode, feature-length version was subsequently broadcast in the United States by PBS as part of their Frontline series on 14 July 2020.^[5] The American version omitted the interviews with Rudy Reyes and Nathan Sassaman among others.^[6] The American version also completely omits the third episode on the Battle of Fallujah.

The series was widely acclaimed in the British press, winning the awards for best documentary and outstanding series at the Rose d'Or festival in December 2020, in addition to being named Best Factual Series at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Interviewees

• Mustafa Abed^[13]
• Nidhal Abed^[13][14]
• Alaa Adel^[15]
• Ahmed Albasheer^[16]
• Ahmad al-Matyouti^[17]
• Ibrahim al-Rawi^[17]
• Christian Dominguez^[14]
• Dexter Filkins^[18][14]
• Ashley Gilbertson^[19][14]
• Um Ibrahim^[17]
• Ali Hussein Kadhim^[20]
• Sally Mars^[21]
• Lewis Miller^[14]
• Susie Miller^[14]
• Omar Mohammed^[22]
• Waleed Nesyif^[23][24]
• John Nixon (CIA)^[25]
• Rudy Reyes^[26]
• Aliyah Khalaf Saleh^[24]
• Tahany Saleh^[21]
• Nathan Sassaman^[27]
• Sam Williams^[14]

Note: Several of the above were omitted from the version made for American television.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Original air date
1	"War"	James Bluemel	July 13, 2020 (2020-07-13)
2	"Insurgency"	James Bluemel	July 20, 2020 (2020-07-20)
3	"Fallujah"	James Bluemel	July 27, 2020 (2020-07-27)
4	"Saddam"	James Bluemel	August 3, 2020 (2020-08-03)
5	"Legacy"	James Bluemel	August 10, 2020 (2020-08-10)

Reception

The Guardian called Once Upon a Time in Iraq "a gripping, harrowing masterpiece" and praised its content, noting the use of interviews with people who were there, as opposed to prioritising interviews with politicians and analysts.^[28] New Statesman called it a "duty" to watch and praising Bluemel's storytelling.^[29]