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. A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US Drug Enforcement Administration In jurisdictions where legislation restricts or prohibits the sale of certain popular drugs, it is common for an illegal drugs trade to develop. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Background

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. It has been suggested that Channel Four Television Corporation be merged into this article or section. ... Simon Moore wrote Traffik; his work on that miniseries was the basis for the Oscar-winning adaptation written for Traffic. ... Alastair Reid (b. ... Masterpiece Theatre is a long-running television series produced by WGBH which premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. ... This is a list of television-related events in 1990. ...

The film starred:

• 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.

Bill Paterson is a Scottish actor who has appeared in many films, plays and television series. ... Drug addiction, or dependency is the compulsive use of drugs, to the point where the user has no effective choice but to continue use. ... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ... Julia Ormond (born on 4 January 1965 in Epsom, Surrey, England) is a British actress with many stage and screen credits to her name. ... Lindsay Duncan (born on 7 November 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish actress. ... Jamal Shah is TV actor of Pakistan. ... Binomial name Papaver somniferum L. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of poppy from which opium and all refined opiates such as morphine (up to 20%), thebaine (5%), codeine (1%), papaverine (1%), and narcotine (5-8%) are naturally present and extracted from the poppy. ... Karachi (Urdu: كراچى, Sindhi: ڪراچي) is the capital of the province of Sindh, and the most populated city in Pakistan. ... A drug lord is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drugs trade. ...

Reviews

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"Traffik" is lauded not only for the quality of its script, its complex, interleaving plots, the brilliant performances of its ensemble cast and its subtle pacing; but also its 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 that you can never stop the production and supply of drugs like heroin, and that innocent people get hurt by the drug trade. Image File history File links Information_icon. ...

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. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... An Emmy Award. ...

The plot of Traffik was used as a basis for the 2000 film Traffic. This is a list of film-related events in 2000. ... Traffic is a film directed by Steven Soderbergh that explores the intricacies of the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: user, enforcer, politician and trafficker. ...

The film is available on DVD and VHS.

External link

• Traffik at the Internet Movie Database