BBC, Apple 9/11 doc tracks presidency

The BBC and Apple TV+ are on board a feature length documentary that documents the US presidency in the hours immediately following the 9/11 attack.

Patrick Holland

9/11: Inside the President’s War Room will debut on BBC1 followed by Apple TV+ this September, marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

It will feature exclusive interviews and never-before-heard testimony from key decision-makers including the president George W Bush, VP Dick Cheney, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and secretary of state Colin Powell.

The 90-minute doc recounts the immediate aftermath of the attack, offering rare insight into the dilemmas of decision-making against the clock, with those involved providing intimate, revealing and personal details, some for the very first time.

The documentary also features nearly 200 never-previously-published photographs as photographers followed every move of Bush and Cheney that day, as well as filmed archive.

It was commissioned by Patrick Holland, director of factual, arts and classical music and Clare Sillery, head of commissioning, documentaries.

Commissioned with Apple, the documentary is being made by Wish/Art Films, where the director is Grierson and RTS award winner Adam Wishart, executive producer is BAFTA award winner Neil Grant, head of production is Serena Kennedy and lead editor is Danny Collins. The BBC commissioning editor is Simon Young.