prison break: Escape from the maze
feature film
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY Siân McIlwaine
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Rachel Hooper & Jonathan Smith
BBC COMMISSIONING EDITORS Mary McKeagney, Fran Baker & Emma Loach
FILM EDITOR Jake Martin
BBC ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER Raphaëlle O’Loan
PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE Martha O’Kane
PRODUCERS Lena Ferguson &Adam Hagerty
ARCHIVE PRODUCER Fran Rowlatt-McCormick
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Mark McCauley
GRAPHICS AND OPENING TITLES Peter Strain
COMPOSER Conor Mitchell
DRAMA PRODUCER Pearce Cullen
ADDITIONAL EDITING Sarah Keeling
ASSISTANT PRODUCER Hollie Wallace
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Katie Duddy
CAMERA ASSISTANT Joe Millar
On September 25 1983, 38 Republican inmates executed the largest prison breakout in British history, violently breaching the supposedly escape-proof walls of HM Prison Maze.
Armed with smuggled guns and a meticulously engineered plan, their escape delivered a staggering blow to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government.
Prison Break: Escape from the Maze is a gripping, minute-by-minute cinematic documentary which includes interviews with both escapees and former prison officers, many speaking publicly for the very first time. They provide raw, highly detailed accounts of the claustrophobic build-up, the chaotic afternoon of the breach, and the lasting personal cost of working and living inside a concrete flashpoint.
Told with the pacing of a cinematic thriller and enriched by rare archival material, the film is a nuanced, gripping and deeply empathetic examination of memory, ideology, and human survival.