H. Scott Salinas (A Private War, The Ballad of Lefty Brown, Cartel Land, Birth of the Dragon) is scoring the upcoming Channel 4 series Baghdad Central. The show is created by Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom, The Child in Time) based on the novel of the same title by Elliot Cola and stars Waleed Zuaiter, Bertie Carvel, Clara Khoury, Leem Lubany, July Namir, Neil Maskell and Corey Stoll. The 6-part crime thriller is set in 2003 Baghdad after Saddam Hussain has fallen and the Coalition forces want to secure the country and centers on a group of ordinary occupied Iraqi citizens. Butchard is also producing the Euston Films production with Kate Harwood (EastEnders, Hard Sun) and Alice Troughton who also serves as the project’s lead director. Baghdad Central will premiere in the UK later this year on Channel 4.
Salinas also continues to co-score the Cinemax original series Warrior, which has been renewed for a second season to premiere in 2020. He also recently scored the documentary Sea of Shadows directed by Richard Ladkani about a rescue mission to save a collapsing ecosystem and with it, the vaquita – the most endangered and elusive whale on earth. The movie premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be released in select theaters on July 12 by National Geographic.
I am a 52yr old Yorkshire man brought up with no particular values but family and community. Not particularly religious but have found Baghdad Central both riveting and enlightening, I firmly believe, albeit somewhat naively I’m sure that it’s a little Hollywoodyfied if that’s even a word, but the core of it is family and self preservation. Now it’s the first time I’ve been brave enough to post such an opinion but this is great TV from a westerners point of view and more of it can only fill in more of the blanks and hopefully make us all understand the complexity different societies face love to all.