The Undeclared War is a British near-future science fiction thriller television miniseries, which aired from 30 June 2022 on Channel 4. The series is written by Peter Kosminsky.
Saara Parvin is a student just beginning work experience at GCHQ, the British agency charged with cyber security for the UK when she's thrust into a secret war against Russian attacks on their Internet. Vadim Trusov on the other hand is a Russian enlisted with Russia's cyber attacks, while secretly opposing these and attempting to aid the UK in stopping them.
Not to be confused with 1990 film Undeclared War.
This series features examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Saara's brother Saj calls her Saar fondly in most cases when they talk.
- AstroTurf: Russia has online trolls and a news company to foment unrest by spreading divisive opinions and many wholly or partly fabricated stories to undermine the UK from within, creating an impression or more actual dissent than really exists.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Saara is dating James and also lives with him when she meets Kathy Freeman at her new job, who she's attracted to. The two kiss and have sex, but afterward Kathy won't consider anything more until Saara's not with James any longer. Kathy leaves for the US, while James realizes what's happened and leaves Saara alone, devastated.
- Brainy Brunette: Saara is a highly intelligent computer whiz working at GCHQ, the British agency in charge of cyber security for the UK. Kathy Freeman, who's the American NSA's liaison there, is equally sharp. Both have black hair. Saara finds malware the rest of her team missed on her very first day in the pilot.
- Category Traitor: Saara's brother Saj is aghast when she admits to working at GCHQ, one of the UK intelligence agencies, as he's convinced they spy on Muslim Britons like them, although she denies they're doing this. In his view, she would be working against her own people. However, he later mellows, realizing she isn't doing that.
- Daddy's Girl: Saara was very close with her father, far more than her mother. His death hits her very hard due to this. Because of his depression, she had been the only one who really understood him.
- Emergency Authority: The UK Prime Minister invokes special powers to deal with the unrest false allegations of the election being rigged caused, which includes declaring a curfew enforced by the police.
- False Flag Operation: Russia Global Today, a news outlet in the UK working for the Russian government, sets up rival Labour Party and fascist demonstrations to cause a riot, with them reporting then creating further distrust and division. They later also frame the Conservative Party for rigging the UK's general election, which causes angry mass demonstrations by Labour supporters. It's shown to be the explicit Russian policy that they'll covertly subvert Britain from within so they'll be weakened when the war they believe will inevitably happen comes by such means.
- Grammar Nazi: John Yeabsley uses his lunch time partly to correct other people's spellings. Then once Saara first speaks to him, he quickly corrects her grammar use too. It later tips Saara off that his interview on Russian TV is fake, since he uses an ungrammatical phrase which he corrected her over.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Vadim sends GCHQ information on Russia's strategy and tactics against the UK, getting caught while doing so which probably will mean his death.
- It's All My Fault: Saara is wracked with guilt over not having had much contact with her dad when she was busy with her life, as she had helped him handle his depression. As she believes he'd killed himself, Saara blames herself, thinking her abandonment of him caused it. Her mother blaming Saara also helps of course. However, it turns out he died accidentally, rather than from suicide like she'd thought.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Saara is shown with the bedsheets around her breasts this way twice, once while she's in bed with James, then later Kathy.
- Next Sunday A.D.: It is set in 2024, by which time there is a new Prime Minister (Boris Johnson having failed a confidence vote just over a year beforenote ) and a general election is looming.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Russia Global Today is clearly based on Russia Today, or RT, a Russian news outlet that in real life has also been accused of being nothing more than Putin's propaganda, just like what's shown here.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Andrew Makinde is President Minority (he's black) and tries to be President Iron. Although, since this is set in the UK, he's actually Prime Minister.
- Photo Identification Denial: Saraa, a student getting work experience in the malware department of Britain's cybersecurity organization, is shown a series of photos on a tablet. The people are suspected to be working for the Russian government as cyberwarriors. Saraa does recognize one picture as that of Vadim, a Russian classmate at her university in London. She denies recognizing him at first, but eventually admits she knew him.
- Propaganda Machine: Russia Global Today is a news outlet widely recognized as this, working for the Russian government and spreading fake or heavily slanted narratives which serve to divide British society so the UK overall becomes weakened, with Russia in a stronger position against them.
- Queer Establishing Moment: In Episode 2, Kathy relates how her ex, a woman, hated her being messy with her belongings. Shortly after this, Saara kisses her, and though she tries to deny it meant anything initially as she had been drunk, her attraction for Kathy is soon confirmed when they kiss again while Saara's sober before the two have sex. Beforehand, Saara is shown to have a boyfriend, making it unknown until then that she also likes women.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Saara kisses Kathy, they start undressing on the couch, then the next scene shows them in bed together after they've had sex.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Saara's brother Saj, who's become an imam (Muslim cleric), preaches that Muslims should not retaliate with violence after multiple mosques have been firebombed, saying this will only breed more violent acts, and cites the Quran in support of his position.
- Twofer Token Minority: Saara is an English Muslim woman of South Asian ancestry. When it's pointed out how GCHQ is mostly white and male, she's unnerved thinking she'd been hired just to get some color into the place, though she gets assured this isn't the case. It turns out she's bisexual too later, falling for the African-American NSA liaison at GCHQ, Kathy Freeman, who's a lesbian. Otherwise, the cast is nearly all white except for Saara's family.
- Vote Early, Vote Often: Inverted, with voter suppression instead appearing to happen in the last episode as Black and Asian British voters are knocked off the rolls, causing protests all over the UK.
- Wall Slump: On being told her father is dead, Saara sits down with a thud against the wall looking stricken.
