Traffik

{{Infobox television

| writer = Simon Moore

| director = Alastair Reid

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| num_series = 1

| num_episodes = 6

| company = Carnival Films

| network = Channel 4

| first_aired = {{Start date|1989|06|22|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1989|07|24|df=y}}

| starring = *Bill Paterson

}}

Traffik is a 1989 British television serial about an illegal drug trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Afghan and Pakistani growers, dealers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning four, including for Best Drama Series or Serial. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was based on the miniseries. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries Traffic was based on both versions.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-27-ca-secondlook27-story.html|title='Traffik,' British miniseries|first=Dennis|last=Lim|date=27 September 2009|work=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite book|author=Yannis Tzioumakis|title=Unknown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmk3BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|date=7 March 2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-6453-5|page=142}}

Background

The six-part serial was produced by Britain's Channel 4, written by Simon Moore and directed by Alastair Reid. In the United States, it first aired on Masterpiece Theatre in 1990.

Cast

Bill Paterson as Jack Lithgow, a Scottish Home Office minister engaged in combating heroin importation from Pakistan.
Julia Ormond as his drug addicted daughter Caroline.
Juraj Kukura as Karl Rosshalde, a German drug smuggler.
Lindsay Duncan as Rosshalde's English wife Helen.
Fritz Müller-Scherz and Tilo Prückner as the German detectives attempting to bring down Rosshalde with the help of informer Jacques Ledesert (Peter Lakenmacher)
Jamal Shah as Pakistani opium poppy grower Fazal, who is evicted from his land as a result of policies encouraged by the British government.
Talat Hussain as Pakistani drug lord Tariq Butt, the supplier of Rosshalde's European heroin network.
Faryal Gohar as Roomana, daughter of the Pakistani magistrate; she later shows Lithgow the extent of the deception Tariq Butt has foisted upon customs officials.
Ismat Shahjahan as Sabira, Fazal's wife.

Episode list

{{Episode table |overall= |title= |airdate= |episodes=

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 1

|Title = The Farmer

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|06|22|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 2

|Title = The Addict

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|06|26|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 3

|Title = The Criminal

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|03|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 4

|Title = The Chemist

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|10|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 5

|Title = The Politician

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|17|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber = 6

|Title = The Courier

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|24|df=yes}}

|ShortSummary =

}}

Reception

The miniseries currently has an average rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/traffik/|title=Traffik|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes }} Writer Suan C. Boyd acknowledges the miniseries for giving different perspectives of the global war on drug trade, going as far as to claim that Traffik is the only film sample that includes the poppy grower in depth.{{cite book|author=Susan C. Boyd|title=Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada, and the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/hookeddrugwarfil00susa|url-access=registration|date=September 2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-1017-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/hookeddrugwarfil00susa/page/178 178]}}

Awards and nominations

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! Year

! Award

! Category

! Result

1989

| International Emmy Award[https://books.google.com/books?id=kTwyAAAAIBAJ&dq=Traffik+International+Emmy&pg=PA78&article_id=3331,2967195 'Traffik' tells of drug trade], Reading Eagle, 22 April 1990

| Drama

| {{won}}

rowspan="6"|1990

|rowspan="6"| BAFTA Awards[http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=1990 BAFTA Awards Search – 1990]

| Drama Series or Serial

| {{won}}

Design

| {{won}}

Film Cameraman

| {{won}}

Film Sound

| {{won}}

Film Editor

| {{nom}}

Original Television Music

| {{nom}}

Home media

The miniseries was released on DVD on 26 June 2001 by Acorn Media.{{cite web|first=Kyra|last=Kirkwood|url=http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_id=1163|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010528113342/http://www.hive4media.com:80/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_id=1163|title=It's Not the Oscar-Winning 'Traffic' -- but Acorn Media's 'Traffik' Is the Original|website=hive4media.com|archivedate=28 May 2001|date=7 May 2001|accessdate=8 September 2019}}

References

External links

{{IMDb title|id=0096716|title=Traffik}}

Category:1989 British television series debuts

Category:1989 British television series endings

Category:1980s British drama television series

Category:Channel 4 television dramas

Category:International Emmy Award for Drama winners

Category:British English-language television shows

Category:Films directed by Alastair Reid