Editing Traffik

{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox television
| writer                   = [[Simon Moore (writer)|Simon Moore]]
| director                 = [[Alastair Reid (director)|Alastair Reid]]
| country                  = United Kingdom
| language                 = English
| num_series               = 1
| num_episodes             = 6
| company                  = [[Carnival Films]]
| network                  = [[Channel 4]]
| first_aired              = {{Start date|1989|06|22|df=y}}
| last_aired               = {{End date|1989|07|24|df=y}}
| starring                 = *[[Bill Paterson (actor)|Bill Paterson]]
*[[Julia Ormond]]
*[[Juraj Kukura]]
*[[Lindsay Duncan]]
*Fritz Müller-Scherz
*[[Tilo Prückner]]
*[[Faryal Gohar]]
*[[Jamal Shah]]
*[[Talat Hussain (actor)|Talat Hussain]]
}}
'''''Traffik''''' is a 1989 British television serial about an [[illegal drug trade]]. Its three stories are interwoven, with [[Story arc|arcs]] told from the perspectives of [[Opium production in Afghanistan|Afghan]] and [[Pakistan]]i growers, dealers and manufacturers, [[Crime in Germany|German dealers]], and [[Substance abuse#UK|British users]]. It was nominated for six [[BAFTA Award]]s, winning four, including for [[British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series|Best Drama Series or Serial]]. It also won an [[Emmy Award#International Emmys|International Emmy Award]] for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film ''[[Traffic (2000 film)|Traffic]]'', directed by [[Steven Soderbergh]], was based on the miniseries. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries ''[[Traffic (miniseries)|Traffic]]'' was based on both versions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-27-ca-secondlook27-story.html|title='Traffik,' British miniseries|first=Dennis|last=Lim|date=27 September 2009|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref name="Tzioumakis2012">{{cite book|author=Yannis Tzioumakis|title=Unknown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmk3BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|date=7 March 2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-6453-5|page=142}}</ref>

==Background==
The six-part serial was produced by Britain's [[Channel 4]], written by [[Simon Moore (writer)|Simon Moore]] and directed by [[Alastair Reid (director)|Alastair Reid]]. In the United States, it first aired on ''[[Masterpiece Theatre]]'' in 1990.

==Cast==
*[[Bill Paterson (actor)|Bill Paterson]] as Jack Lithgow, a Scottish [[Home Office]] minister engaged in combating heroin importation from Pakistan.
*[[Julia Ormond]] as his drug addicted daughter Caroline.
*[[Juraj Kukura]] as Karl Rosshalde, a German drug smuggler.
*[[Lindsay Duncan]] as Rosshalde's English wife Helen.
*Fritz Müller-Scherz and [[Tilo Prückner]] as the German detectives attempting to bring down Rosshalde with the help of informer Jacques Ledesert (Peter Lakenmacher)
*[[Jamal Shah]] as Pakistani [[opium poppy]] grower Fazal, who is evicted from his land as a result of policies encouraged by the British government.
*[[Talat Hussain (actor)|Talat Hussain]] as Pakistani drug lord Tariq Butt, the supplier of Rosshalde's European heroin network.
*[[Faryal Gohar]] as Roomana, daughter of the Pakistani magistrate; she later shows Lithgow the extent of the deception Tariq Butt has foisted upon customs officials.
*[[Ismat Shahjahan]] as Sabira, Fazal's wife.

==Episode list==
{{Episode table |overall= |title= |airdate= |episodes=
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 1
 |Title    = The Farmer
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|06|22|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 2
 |Title    = The Addict
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|06|26|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 3
 |Title    = The Criminal
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|03|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 4
 |Title    = The Chemist
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|10|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 5
 |Title    = The Politician
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|17|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
{{Episode list
 |EpisodeNumber   = 6
 |Title    = The Courier
 |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|07|24|df=yes}}
 |ShortSummary    =
}}
}}

==Reception==
The miniseries currently has an average rating of 83% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/traffik/|title=Traffik|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes }}</ref> Writer Suan C. Boyd acknowledges the miniseries for giving different perspectives of the global war on drug trade, going as far as to claim that ''Traffik'' is the ''only'' film sample that includes the poppy grower in depth.<ref name="Boyd2009">{{cite book|author=Susan C. Boyd|title=Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada, and the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/hookeddrugwarfil00susa|url-access=registration|date=September 2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-1017-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/hookeddrugwarfil00susa/page/178 178]}}</ref>

== Awards and nominations ==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Result
|- 
| 1989
| [[International Emmy Award]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kTwyAAAAIBAJ&dq=Traffik+International+Emmy&pg=PA78&article_id=3331,2967195 'Traffik' tells of drug trade], ''Reading Eagle'', 22 April 1990</ref>
| Drama
| {{won}}
|-
|rowspan="6"|1990
|rowspan="6"| [[BAFTA Awards]]<ref>[http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=1990 BAFTA Awards Search – 1990]</ref>
| Drama Series or Serial
| {{won}}
|-
| Design
| {{won}}
|-
| Film Cameraman
| {{won}}
|-
| Film Sound
| {{won}}
|-
| Film Editor
| {{nom}}
|-
| Original Television Music
| {{nom}}
|-
|}

==Home media==
The miniseries was released on DVD on 26 June 2001 by Acorn Media.<ref>{{cite web|first=Kyra|last=Kirkwood|url=http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_id=1163|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010528113342/http://www.hive4media.com:80/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_id=1163|title=It's Not the Oscar-Winning 'Traffic' -- but Acorn Media's 'Traffik' Is the Original|website=hive4media.com|archivedate=28 May 2001|date=7 May 2001|accessdate=8 September 2019}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0096716|title=Traffik}}

{{Alastair Reid}}
{{InternationalEmmyAward Drama}}

[[Category:1989 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1989 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1980s British drama television series]]
[[Category:Channel 4 television dramas]]
[[Category:International Emmy Award for Drama winners]]
[[Category:British English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alastair Reid]]