Right of reply
Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story recounts the true story of the eponymous model’s kidnap ordeal in 2017 and the subsequent media storm when she was accused of faking the whole thing. Writer Georgia Lester, star Nadia Parkes and Ayling herself recount the making of this factual drama.
In 2017, British model Chloe Ayling travelled to Italy to take part in a fashion shoot. But on her arrival in Milan, she was taken captive by a group calling themselves The Black Death, who told her she would be sex trafficked.
After six days, she was released by her captors, and it was only in court that she discovered the ‘group’ holding her was actually just one man and his brother. Then when she got back to the UK, many people didn’t believe her story.
Now, a six-part factual drama, Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, recounts her ordeal and the subsequent court case that put her kidnappers behind bars. As well as showing how Ayling (played by Nadia Parkes) faced a media storm amid accusations that she lied about her experience, the series also explores why she was blamed for her own kidnapping, how people relate to survivors who make the front pages and how it feels to be an ordinary person caught up in events so extraordinary that you aren’t believed.
Produced by River Pictures for BBC Three and BBC iPlayer in association with Germany’s ZDFneo, the series comes from writer Georgia Lester, with individual episodes written by Nessa Wrafter (Early Days) and Tolula Dada (Grantchester).
Al Mackay (Without Sin) directs and Clare Shepherd (Viewpoint) is the producer, with BBC Studios handling international sales.
Here, DQ hears from Lester, Parkes (The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself) and Ayling about making the series.
In 2017, Ayling was booked for a photoshoot in Milan. But as soon as she arrived at the agreed location, she discovered it was a setup.
Ayling: As I walked into the studio, two masked men came from behind me in balaclavas, injected me with ketamine and I was immediately knocked out and taken to a remote farmhouse hours away from Milan. I woke up during the transportation in a duffle bag in the boot of car, gagged and handcuffed, and was held captive for six days. Upon arrival at the farmhouse, I was told I was kidnapped for sex trafficking.
Her experiences with the media after her release and the court case made her want to tell her own story through a factual drama.
Ayling: A lot of things were not covered by the media at the time. Key features and parts of the story were missed out, and the drama shines light on those things. All of the facts are what I wanted people to know and be aware of at the time, so I’m really pleased that the series includes them. It’s also good to see it visually; I’m a very visual person, so to see it on the screen is different from just reading it and you actually get to kind of feel like you’re experiencing it as well.
Lester was sent Ayling’s book about her ordeal and asked to consider adapting her story for television. She felt passionate about inviting the audience into Ayling’s experience by showing both the kidnapping and the aftermath.
Lester: The drama reveals details that have not been widely written about before in the press, such as the fact she remained in Milan in the immediate aftermath of her release while the investigation unfolded, and was not allowed to return to the UK until she’d attended a pre-trial and faced her kidnapper in court. Alongside her harrowing ordeal in captivity, I wanted to shine a light on Chloe’s devastation and frustration that she wasn’t believed by the press, the public and some of her friends.
Chloe was an ordinary 20-year-old who was caught up in extraordinary and horrific events, and none of us know how we would react in similar circumstances. I wanted to understand this from her point of view, to make a considered, well-researched drama that went behind the headlines, to shine a light on what really happened to Chloe and why she responded in the way she did.
Lester and Ayling then spent a lot of time together so the writer could better understand Ayling’s experiences and what her life had looked like before her ordeal.
Lester: It was really illuminating getting to know Chloe, and understanding who she is, which helped me understand why she behaved the way she did during and after her kidnapping.
I also had access to a vast amount of research material that included transcripts of police interviews and court transcripts of both the pre-trial and the trial.
The producers and I spoke to a number of people involved in the case, including lawyers, detectives, and Chloe’s previous and present agent, family and friends. I have also drawn on the huge amount of broadcast, press and social media coverage of Chloe’s story and reflected on the nature of that coverage during and after the case itself.
Lester also got greater insight into Ayling’s emotions after returning from Italy, when some people dismissed her story because they thought she was exploiting her experience for money.
Lester: She was being paid to do interviews for TV and the papers. But she was a young woman with financial responsibilities who couldn’t continue with her career as a model at that time, all because she had been kidnapped. Once people started to doubt her story, Chloe wanted to amplify what had happened to her, to prove that she was telling the truth. She was caught in a vicious cycle of wanting to publicly defend herself, and then finding herself doubted further because her attempts at having her voice heard were misconstrued as attempts for fame and money, which fed into the false narrative that her abduction was a publicity stunt.
Chloe was always herself when she presented herself to the press – she wore clothes that gave her confidence and comfort, and she was stoic and unemotional because she hates crying in public. And ironically, that made people doubt her. She was being her authentic self, but that image didn’t fit in with preconceptions of victimhood and how a traumatised woman should look and behave.
Ayling met Parkes before shooting began, and the actor was able to pick up some of Ayling’s mannerisms and speech patterns for her performance.
Ayling: I was surprised at how much detail goes into it to make sure everything is perfect. Even things like her listening to my [music] playlist and wearing my fragrance, things that you wouldn’t think matter, but that’s how in-depth it was. I think she did a really good job. It was surreal for the both of us, as she has never played a real-life person, so she was very dedicated to doing justice to my story. I didn’t hear her speaking my voice until I went on set, as she was too shy to do it in front of me before. But walking in, it was like hearing myself.
When Parkes received the script, she immediately looked up Ayling’s Good Morning Britain interview – a dramatisation of which begins the series.
Parkes: [Watching it] I actually got goosebumps all the way through my body. I watched loads of interviews – I watched everything on her! And as soon as I met the production team, I knew I could trust them to tell the story in the way it should be told – fairly and with empathy. So I got the call to say I’d got the part and I was very excited, but then I had an absolute panic about being able to play her.
Parkes’ transformation into Ayling involved “unbelievable” work from the show’s hair and make-up team.
Parkes: I dyed my hair and we did lots of nails because they can help you hold your hands differently. We have different body types and the costume department made my body shape match hers more and make it look so authentic. And then Al [Mackay] directed me in a way to help Chloe come out of me more.
Lester was “blown away” by Parkes’ audition tape, and says she portrays Ayling in a “really mesmerising” way.
Lester: I also think hair and make-up did a really great job transforming Nadia into Chloe, from the confident glamour model we see before her kidnapping to the very scared, dishevelled Chloe we meet in captivity.
Costume and hair and make-up did such extensive research to make sure Nadia authentically represented Chloe at the time – from selfies and photos taken before she was kidnapped, to the CCTV images we had during the kidnapping.
Ayling hopes the series changes people’s views of her and shows the story from her own perspective.
Ayling: There was so much of what happened which wasn’t reported on by the media; things that were not important in the big picture were blown out of proportion and key factual details were left out, which I think resulted in many people being misled.
I hope it encourages people not to doubt victims based on the way they react to a traumatic experience, based on the way they dress, their job or what they did to survive. I hope it encourages people to look deeper than headlines, not to judge a situation or story based on what you read, not to be so easily influenced by media and to keep an open mind before jumping to conclusions. I hope it encourages the media to do better.
Parkes: It’s important because it’s about a bigger question to society – about how lots of people perceive women in the media and how trauma can be perceived. It also has a really clear message about social media. We look into a lot of the hate she was receiving and the downside of the world of social media. It’s such a great platform in so many ways, but it can also be so damaging. I think people can hide behind these screens sending hateful comments and messages to people, and they fail to remember there’s a human sitting behind that.
Lester’s ambition with the series is to vindicate Ayling in the eyes of people who didn’t believe her, and help them understand why she behaved the way she did.
Lester: It’s important to understand that she was coerced, and being compliant [with her kidnappers] saved her life. That’s why she didn’t ask for help when she was taken to a nearby village during her time in captivity. She was so brainwashed by the man who kidnapped her that it was her fear of the police that prompted her to lie in her police interview, and not that she had anything to hide.
This series is important because it explores how we treat victims, specifically women, and our own preconceptions of what a victim should look like. It’s a drama about believing women, whatever their reaction to trauma is, believing them whatever they decide to wear and however they make their money. Chloe has a remarkable ability to read people, and she was able to remain calm in the most nightmarish situation, to understand that her kidnapper had feelings for her, and she was able to convince him to release her.
Chloe recognised that screaming and crying and disobeying her kidnapper would not save her. She was extremely brave and resilient in the face of horrifying threats and it was her courage and calm demeanour that saved her life.
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tagged in: BBC, BBC Studios, BBC Three, Georgia Lester, Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, Nadia Parkes, River Pictures, ZDFneo