Ben Zygier. From security affair to television series
Photo: AFP
Israeli series on Prisoner X sold to UK
British company buys drama based on story of alleged Mossad agent Ben Zygier, who was found dead in his prison cell while facing charges of treason
A new television drama series based on the Prisoner X
affair, which involved Israeli-Australian Mossad agent Ben Zygier
who was found dead in his secured prison cell after hanging himself, has been sold to Britain's Company Pictures even before its production in Israel,
American entertainment website Variety reports.
The sale was led handled by Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein of the ADD agency, who also finalized the sale of HO television series "The Prime Minister's Children" to American television network CW.
Anonymous Prisoners
Ron Ben-Yishai
Analysis: Exposing someone like Zygier or Prisoner Y could help enemy cross-check information, put people's life in danger
The "Prisoner X" series, which will be broadcast in Israel on YES satellite television provider, was created by writer Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen and will be produced by Tedy Production, which recently sold television singing competition "The Rising Star" to the ABC network.
Company Pictures Managing Director John Yorke told Variety, "We are incredibly excited to be working alongside such a stellar array of talent on 'Prisoner X.' Israel has been at the forefront of some of the most original and smart television of the past few years, and it’s a huge privilege to be working with them to be bringing such an exciting idea to the screen."
The Ben Zygier affair broke in early 2013. Zygier, an Israeli-Australian citizen who was allegedly a Mossad agent, was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of endangering the State of Israel's security and was jailed in a guarded and isolated cell in the Ayalon Prison. He committed suicide several months later.
The story was placed under a gag order in Israel until an Australian television network aired an investigative report about Prisoner X, which prompted an Israeli court to partially lift the gag order and clear the affair for publication.
