Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar for her performance in The Queen, will portray one of the few Jewish women left in the strife-torn Gaza Strip in Gaza, according to Times Online. Her daughter, a journalist, is having a relationship with a Palestinian but is shot and killed.

"The movie is inspired by events in Gaza and not by any particular real incident" says the scriptwriter, Frank Deasy, who wrote the final Prime Suspect, the television drama series which starred Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tenni-son, and Philip Martin, the director, were due in Gaza in April to continue their research. But the kidnapping of Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent, has made it too dangerous. Jordan will "double" as Gaza.