Traffik

Traffik is a 1989 television miniseries which tells the story of illegal drug trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Pakistani growers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users.

Related Topics:
1989 television - Miniseries - Illegal drug trade - Arcs - Pakistan - German - British

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

Related Topics:
Channel 4 - Simon Moore - Alastair Reid - Masterpiece Theatre - 1990

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The film starred:

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• Bill Paterson as Jack Lithgow, the father of a heroin addict whose job is Home Office minister in the UK government with responsibilities for combating drug use and importation (Julia Ormond played the addicted daughter, in her national television debut.)
• Lindsay Duncan as the wife of a German drug smuggler, Karl Rosshalde (played by George Kukura), whose life is changed forever after her husband's arrest;
• Fritz Müller-Scherz and Tilo Prückner as the German detectives aiming to bring down Rosshalde with the help of informer Jacques Ledesert (Peter Lakenmacher);
• Jamal Shah as innocent opium poppy grower Fazal, who is evicted from his land thanks to the policies encouraged by Lithgow's government, and as a result seeks a new job (and inevitable corruption) in Karachi; and
• Talat Hussain as Pakistani drug lord Tariq Butt, the supplier of Rosshalde's European heroin network, who hires the former poppy grower.

"Traffik" is remarkable not just for the quality of its script, its complex, interleaving plots, the brilliant performances of its ensemble cast and its subtle pacing; the series also takes a bold and dispassionate look at the global drugs trade. It does not demonise the victims of heroin - the poor growers of "harmless" opium, the mules, the addicts. Nor does it oversentimentalise them. And it manages to humanise the "evil-doers" - the gangsters and pushers - in a way which makes the heroin problem seem part of the fabric of society, not some extra-societal force of people committed to "evil". Traditional political solutions to heroin trafficking and use are shown in all their ineffectualness. The overall message of the series is important: you can never stop the production and supply of drugs like heroin. And most of the time, innocent people get hurt when you try to do so. All you can do is try to make society a better place so that as few people as possible wish to escape it.

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All these qualities were recognised when Traffik was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama.

Related Topics:
BAFTA Award - International Emmy Award

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The plot of Traffik was used as a basis for the 2000 film Traffic. The success of that film led to the production of DVD and VHS versions of the miniseries, still available for sale as of 2005.

Related Topics:
2000 film - Traffic - As of 2005

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