Baghdad Central

Episode 1

Episode 1

46min - Baghdad 2003; Saddam Hussein has been thrown out of power and US-led Coalition forces now occupy Iraq. Muhsin Al-Khafaji, a care-worn but resilient ex-Iraqi Police Inspector no longer recognises the country that surrounds him. When his eldest and recently estranged daughter, Sawsan, goes missing he makes it his sole aim to track her down and bring her home. Khafaji’s first important lead into Sawsan’s whereabouts is given to him by his younger daughter, Mrouj, who confesses that Sawsan had been earning dollars translating papers for the Coalition Authority. Mrouj also gives him the name of Sawsan’s university professor: Zubeida Rashid. But when he doorsteps her at the university, the Professor evades Khafaji’s questioning. Making little progress on the streets of Baghdad, Khafaji by chance meets Frank Temple, an ex-Met Police cop who makes Khafaji an offer he cannot refuse, to help recruit and re train the Iraqi Police Force. Seeing it as an opportunity to get into the heart of the Green Zone where Sawsan worked, Khafaji accepts. Meanwhile, straight as a die Military Police captain, John Parodi, leads an investigation into the disappearance of a US citizen who he assumes has been kidnapped by insurgents.

Episode 2

46min - While Mrouj is in the American Military Hospital awaiting dialysis, Khafaji is called to his first crime scene. The dead body of an unidentified Iraqi has been discovered in a Coalition Authority safe house in the Red Zone. There, Khafaji soon uncovers another body, hidden and booby-trapped: that of missing US citizen Clark Kibbert. Parodi tells Temple he’ll have questions to answer as to why his safe house was targeted. Determined to pick up the pace in his search for Sawsan, Khafaji pays a visit to an old associate (and ex-con), Hamed to request copies of the police files of all of Sawsan’s known friends and associates; as well as the file of Professor Rashid. As Khafaji makes his way to report for work in Frank Temple’s office in the Green Zone, he witnesses an SUV belonging to Hamilton Baker Security crash at speed into the checkpoint barricade. In the back is a dead mercenary, and the driver is a battered and bruised young woman who Khafaji recognizes as Zahra, who he’d previously seen talking to Zubeida at the University. Having been ticked off by Temple for being late, Khafaji gets confirmation from an Iraqi interpreter that his daughter Sawsan was known as Suzy, and that she had indeed been working for the Coalition, along with other friends from University, and when Hamed tells Khafaji that the file of Professor Zubeida Rashid has gone missing Khafaji ponders what dangers Sawsan may be caught up in.

Episode 3

46min - Khafaji seeks out Zubeida at home demanding to know the truth about Zahra. They are interrupted when Temple pitches up, also wanting answers: is he dealing with some kind of terror cell? And is Zubeida their ringleader? Khafaji overhears the conversation but is distracted when he sees Sawsan furtively taking a gun from Zubeida’s garage. When Temple leaves, Khafaji is shocked to witness Sawsan firing a fusillade at Temple, his boss. Before Khafaji can reach her, Sawsan turns her back on him and flees. The identity of the dead Iraqi found in the Safe House is revealed to be Fadhil Al Bakr, a criminal who made his money from prostitution. Back in the Green Zone, Khafaji tries to persuade Parodi that Temple is at the root of the Safe House murders. It was Temple’s House, that is where the crashed SUV was hijacked, and the mercenary was shot, and Zahra worked for Temple. Parodi agrees to allow him to interview Zahra on condition that he wears a wire. Khafaji gains Zahra’s confidence and she admits her friend “was raped and because of that is dead”. Temple is deadpan. Parodi remains unconvinced. At the hotel Sports Bar, Khafaji discovers that the girl who would often sit with Clark Kibbert went by the name ‘Candy’, who he knows is also one of Sawsan’s friends. Convinced that all the clues lead to Temple, Khafaji steals Temple’s trailer key. Inside he finds a duffel bag, packed with wads of dollars.

Episode 4

46min - Parodi and his men raid “Candy”/Sanaa’s home searching for insurgents, but all they find are frightened women mourning Sanaa, among them Sawsan, veiled and disguised. Parodi finds a photograph of 3 girls, Sanaa/Cady, Zahra/Laura and a 3rd girl, and demands to know the identity of this ‘third girl’. On the run, and intent on avenging Sanaa’s death by killing Temple, Sawsan finds Amjad holed up with a group of religiously inspired insurgents determined to fight the Americans, and not even Zubeida can persuade her to leave. Hamed helps Khafaji search Fadhil’s office where he finds a Hamilton Baker business card with the address of Temple’s Safe House, proving that Fadhil, Temple and Hamilton Baker are all linked. He shows it to Parodi, who is still reluctant to investigate as the authorities are determined that Iraqi’s are guilty not westerners. Meanwhile, Temple has discovered his money is missing. Suspecting Khafaji, he uses evidence of ‘war crimes’ to have Khafaji arrested, so that he can search his apartment, where he and Evans, Temple’s Hamilton Baker Security colleague find evidence of his stolen money and Sawsan’s Coalition Authority identity card. Temple visits Kahafji in jail to demand his money back, and when Khafaji refuses, he beats him up. Parodi enlists Mrouj’s help to get Zahra to identify the 3rd Girl, and Zarah unwittingly reveals to Parodi that her friend, the third girl, is Mrouj’s sister Sawsan. Furious that Khafaji has betrayed him, Parodi demands that Khafaji bring him Sawsan, threatening him that Mrouj will remain his prisoner in hospital until he does. Evans feigns injury to be admitted to hospital and slips into Zahra’s room and “silences” her, but Mrouj has seen him.

Episode 5

46min - Khafaji is released by Parodi to search for the “third girl," Sawsan. Back at his apartment, Zubeida is waiting to take him to Sawsan but first they must fight their way-out past Ibrahim and his neighborhood gang, who are convinced that Khafaji still has Temple’s dollars. But Khafaji has entrusted the dollars to Karl, his regular taxi driver, to give to Nidal, his brother-in-law, and his wife, Maha, to finance their escape from Iraq. Meanwhile, Parodi is furious to discover that Zahra has been killed while in his custody. Sawsan tells Amjad that she plans to kill Temple, and, despite his reservations, Amjad gives her Zahra’s Green Zone pass, and deflects Khafaji, lying that Sawsan has already left. Mrouj tells Khafaji that she saw a western man near Zahra’s room, and Khafaji tells Parodi that a westerner must be responsible as no Iraqi’s have access to the hospital. Parodi challenges Evans and Temple over Zahra’s death, but in the absence of tangible evidence, they deflect his accusations while Sawsan, who has got into the Green Zone, watches on. Parodi tells Khafaji that, while he knows that Temple and Evans were running a prostitution racket using Coalition money and properties, the real threat which he has to investigate is the incipient insurgency, probably headed by Zubeida Rashid. While tasking Khafaji to bring her to him, Parodi receives a call from Temple’s assistant Megan Ford that someone posing as ‘Zahra Boustani’ has entered the Green Zone, an intruder, Girl No 3. Temple is gingerly entering his trailer when Sawsan pounces with a knife. After a short but brutal fight Temple manages to overwhelm her, and calls Evans to arrange for an extraction, to ship her out of the Green Zone to a safe place.

Episode 6

46min - Khafaji is tasked by Parodi to find Zubeida, but knowing that Sawsan will be going after Temple, Khafaji defies him. He tracks Temple to the Sports Bar, but his blood runs cold when he learns that Temple succeeded in taking Sawsan hostage when she tried to kill him. He is willing to exchange her for his money. Khafaji enlists Ford’s help to get Mrouj out of her hospital prison and gets Karl to take him to Nidal’s to retrieve Temple’s money. He also calls Parodi telling him to stand by to arrest Zubeida. Khafaji is waiting outside Zubeida’s Villa when Temple and Evans arrive with Sawsan. The exchange takes place and using Temple as a shield Khafaji and Sawsan retreat inside Zubeida’s compound. Omar fires, provoking Evans and his men to fire back, all part of the plan to ensure Parodi will arrive and catch Evans in flagrante. Zubeida was party to the plan, but will Khafaji betray her? Under attack from all sides, Parodi arrives just in time to save them, except Omar who is killed by Evans. Arrested by Parodi, imprisoned in his car, and realising his money has again gone missing, Temple watches helplessly, screaming in rage as Khafaji, Sawsan and Zubeida escape in Zubeida’s car towards the Jordanian border. Parodi realizes he’s been played. Khafaji and Sawsan finally get to speak and reconcile. They can see Mrouj and Nidal and family waiting for them at the border in the distance, together with Karl holding the money, when Parodi intercepts them. Knowing it could be all over, Khafaji comes clean, and Parodi has to make a moral decision, whether to arrest them or let them go. Sawsan, Mrouj, Zubeida and the family have crossed the border to safety, and Karl is by Khafaji’s side his taxi headed back towards Baghdad. “Where to Inspector?”