The first trailer showing Nadia Parkes as kidnapped glamour model Chloe Ayling, who was drugged and bundled into a suitcase before being abducted in Italy, has been revealed by the BBC.
The new series, Kidnapped, follows the harrowing true story of Chloe’s shock 2017 ordeal in Milan, having travelled there for a photoshoot.
For the first time, Chloe’s story will be told in full, shining a light behind the headlines to reveal the ’emotional truth’ of her nightmare kidnapping.
In a tense 30-second clip teasing the programme, Parkes is shown portraying Ayling as she is grabbed by two masked men and dragged away before then encountering her kidnapper.
The model was lured to Milan by Polish national Lukasz Herba with the promise of modelling work, only to be drugged and kidnapped.
For the first time, Chloe’s story will be told in full, shining a light behind the headlines to reveal the ’emotional truth’ of her harrowing ordeal (pictured Chloe Ayling in 2017)
Nadia Parkes portrays kidnapped glamour model Chloe Ayling, who was drugged and bundled into a suitcase before being abducted in Italy. Parkes is pictured in a clip from the show’s trailer
The tense 30-second trailer shows the moment Chloe was kidnapped by a pair of masked men
Parkes playing Chloe, is later seen waking up on the floor with a plate of food behind her head
After being injected with horse tranquilliser Ketamine and bundled into a suitcase at a Milan photo studio, she was taken to a farmhouse near Turin in northern Italy.
She was told she had been kidnapped by a group calling themselves Black Death, and that she would be sold as a sex slave in an online auction, at a starting price of €300,000 (£265,000).
In her diary, Chloe detailed how Herba told her he was an assassin working for the Black Death group but that he was on her side after finding out she had a child.
‘He talked about his assassinations so casually, like it was normal. That was what was so scary,’ she recalled. ‘He could have been telling me he stacked shelves in Tesco, the way he spoke about it.’
Calling himself MD, Herba stuck to his story that he was only the middleman assassin there to guard her before the online ‘slave auction’ and warned her that Black Death were watching them.
‘I was completely numb with fear. My life wasn’t in my hands. I just nodded,’ she wrote in her diary of her time in captivity.
Actress Nadia Parkes will be portraying kidnapped glamour model Chloe Ayling. Nadia is pictured, left, with Chloe seen, right in 2017
Another clip from the six-part series on the BBC shows Parkes as Ayling being dragged away
The new six-part drama about the kidnapping and its fallout will air on BBC Three later this month (pictured is a photo from the trailer)
She claimed it didn’t even cross her mind to think of an escape, even after he took her to a local shoe shop, because she believed Herba’s story and was too scared.
The series follows her terrifying kidnap, her bravery and resilience in captivity, and the subsequent court case that put her kidnappers in jail.
Chloe, who has since appeared on reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, was finally released after six days in captivity at a remote farmhouse.
Herba had offered Chloe for sale online, before handing her over to the British consulate.
Herba was later jailed for 16 years and nine months for abducting the British model and ordered to pay £6,000 in damages to her.
He claimed during his Milan trial that she agreed to the scheme to boost her career.
Despite their convictions, Chloe faced accusations of faking her own kidnapping, and found herself at the centre of a media storm.
The BBC series brings the ordeal and court case to screen by drawing on legal documents, Chloe’s published diary and extensive interviews.
Kidnapped, which was written by Killing Eve and Skins creator Georgia Lester, also stars Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Lindsay, Olive Gray and Eleonora Romandini.
Chloe (pictured in July 2018) was drugged and kidnapped in a six-day ordeal back in 2017 after being lured to Milan by Polish national Lukasz Herba with the promise of modelling work
Also joining the cast are the likes of Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Lindsay, Julian Swiezewski and Olive Gray, with more casting yet to be announced.
Nadia has previously starred in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself and Domina and is now taking on the role of model Chloe.
Nadia said of her casting: ‘This is a timely and important story about how we perceive trauma in the media.’
While Chloe added: ‘I am excited that BBC Studios are telling my story and that the wider world will get to know the truth about what happened to me and learn of the many details that weren’t brought to light originally.’
Other actors include Julian Swiezewski and Christine Tremarco.
The series is being made in cooperation with Ayling and filming took place in Italy and the UK last year.
The new six-part drama has been penned by Killing Eve’s writer, Georgia Lester.
It is based on detailed research, extensive interviews, documented legal proceedings and Chloe’s own book, Kidnapped.
Kidnapped will launch on Wednesday, August 14 on BBC Three with a double-bill at 9pm. All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am.