Channel 4 to screen terrorist dramas

Channel 4 to screen terrorist dramas

The Death of Klinghoffer is based on a 1985 terrorist hijack

A controversial drama about the 11 September attacks as seen through the eyes of the airplane hijackers is to be screened by Channel 4.

The Hamburg Cell, written by Ronan Bennett, dramatises the build-up to the terrorist attacks on New York in 2001.

The station will also show an opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, based on the terrorist atrocity of 1985 when a cruise ship was hijacked in the Mediterranean.

Channel 4 chief executive Mark Thompson is attempting to return to the network's original remit of taking risks in programme-making with its forthcoming season.

The complex relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown will be examined in the drama The Deal.

Directed by Stephen Frears, it recreates the deal that was alleged to have been made between the two, with Mr Brown agreeing not to stand against Mr Blair in return for the promise the prime minister stood down to make way for him after two terms.

The project was dropped by ITV but Channel 4 decided to pick it up.

Channel 4 is investing £1.7m in the staging of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer, set on board a ship taken over by Palestinian terrorists.

School experiment

When it was first performed on stage it met with fierce criticism from both Palestinians and Israelis.

The 3Rs will sent teenagers back to the 1950s

Educational standards will be put to the test in The 3Rs, an experiment which will send a group of teenagers to a 1950s-style boarding school.

The programme aims to explore how teaching methods today compare with those 50 years ago.

A group of 16-year-olds who will have just sat their GCSEs will spend a month under the watchful eye of housemasters in a harsh setting recreating the era.

They will then sit O-levels in maths, English and French and will receive both sets of results on the same day.

The experiment is being supported by exam boards.

Series producer Simon Rockell said: "This experiment will help answer some of the questions that have exercised the minds of academics over the last 50 years.

"Has political correctness in modern teaching methods not only allowed apostrophes and split infinitives to run wild, but squeezed out the competitive spirit in sport and academia for fear of hurting the feelings of a molly-coddled generation?"