Year Zero
Berlin. May 1945. A city without institutions in a continent that has become a wasteland.
Thousands of former Nazis have been killed in Allied purges, many more incarcerated in the very concentration camps they themselves established.
But the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, has a problem. One of those former Nazis is actually a British spy, Edward Kayne, who has intercepted a top-secret document that Churchill insists is vital to settling the peace.
Martin Geller is selected to journey into the heart of darkness and extract Kayne, but a carrot is dangled before him. His daughter, Zaya, had been abducted two years before as part of the Lebensborn programme – the kidnapping of children deemed to be ripe for ‘Germanisation’. Zaya is now in the same camp.
Geller sets off on a two-pronged mission – to extract Kayne and rescue Zaya. But Geller will discover that far from settling the peace, the document that Kayne has intercepted threatens the opposite.
Can Geller save his daughter from the gates of hell? And how does Geller reconcile the rescue of Kayne with his knowledge that he may be condemning the world to a new Armageddon?
Rob Gittins
Rob Gittins has written for most of the UK’s most successful long-running drama series, including CASUALTY, EASTENDERS, SOLDIER SOLDIER, EMMERDALE, HEARTBEAT, THE INDIAN DOCTOR and THE BILL. In recognition of his work as the longest serving writer in the history of the show, Rob recently received an Outstanding Achievement Award for EASTENDERS. He has also created and written two original TV series – TIGER BAY (BBC1) and IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS (ITV) – and twenty-five original plays for Radio 4. Other writing work includes over a hundred episodes of THE ARCHERS; a drama series, LOSING PARADISE, which won the Gold Drama Prize at the New York International Radio Festival; and episodes for children’s series THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER. Rob was Executive Producer and joint lead writer on BBC Wales’ drama series CRASH, and Script Executive and writer on Sky 1’s STELLA, created by and starring Ruth Jones. Rob has also written a number of novels – including INVESTIGATING MR WAKEFIELD, currently being developed for television, as well as three novels for Hobeck – and his feature film BLUE MONDAY received a premiere at BAFTA.
