The gripping first trailer for the BBC's new drama Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story has dropped, showing the harrowing moment the model was snatched upon her arrival in Milan, Italy.
In the chilling teaser of the upcoming six-part series, viewers see Ayling being quizzed on whether she feels like "the person on trial" during a TV interview post-abduction. In a tense snippet, one of her captors is heard asking her, "Are you scared of me?"
To which she responds: "I was, but I can see that you're not the same as the others." He then assures her: "I would do anything to help you."
The trailer cuts to a post-release TV interview where Ayling reflects: "If I was not a model, do you think people would have the same opinions of me? I don't think so, no."
The series dramatises the real-life events of British glamour model Chloe Ayling, who was kidnapped in 2017 after being lured to a fake modelling job in Milan but was subsequently let go, reports the Manchester Evening News. The former Celebrity Big Brother star was held captive in a farmhouse close to Turin while her abductors demanded a ransom of 300,000 euros (£265,000).
Ayling was freed six days later on July 17 and taken to the British consulate in Milan. Despite her ordeal, she faced sensational headlines suggesting she had staged the kidnapping and was even accused in court of orchestrating a "publicity stunt".
Nadia Parkes is set to portray Chloe Ayling in an upcoming BBC drama, with Adrian Edmondson of A Spy Among Friends fame and Nigel Lindsay from The Capture, joining the cast. The series raises poignant questions: "Why Chloe was blamed for her kidnappers' crimes? How do we relate to survivors of crime who make the front pages? And how does it feel to be an ordinary person, caught up in events so extraordinary that you aren't believed?"
Penned by Georgia Lester, known for her work on Killing Eve, the drama draws from extensive research, interviews, court records, and Ayling's own memoir, Kidnapped The Untold Story Of My Abduction. Chloe Ayling herself has given her approval, expressing her excitement about the BBC bringing "her story" to the screen.
The production was shot across Italy and the UK in the previous year.
The much-anticipated series will premiere on Wednesday, August 14, with all episodes dropping on BBC iPlayer at 6am, while the first two episodes will broadcast on BBC Three at 9pm.