Is Crossfire based on a true story?

Ex-police officer Jo then has to spring into action to defend her family, with the episodes playing out as a taut and nail-biting thriller.

Crossfire writer and creator Louise Doughty recently opened up about how the cast and crew had to adhere to "incredibly strict" gun safety regulations.

"The safety regulations are, rightly, incredibly strict," she told RadioTimes.com and other press. "I mean, we had the top armourer in the Canary Islands, he was on set at all times and would crack a gun open before he handed it to an actor, show the actor that the barrels were empty and, in fact, the rifles we used were blocked."

She added: "I mean, they couldn't physically fire anything. But even so, the actors have to act as though they are in proper gun peril. And I don't think we can really underestimate what that must be like."

The plot of Crossfire might seem at first to tell a story with chilling real-life parallels, but is it actually based on a true story? Read on for everything you need to know.

Is Crossfire based on a true story?

No, Crossfire is not based on a true story. However, it has been influenced by similar real-life tragedies.

The show's creator Louise Doughty spoke to RadioTimes.com and other press, and when asked how she approached writing the series sensitively, she said: "I think the first thing to say is how appalling it must be for anyone who has ever experienced this.

"None of us can begin to imagine how awful that must be and I think our hearts go out to all of them, because it's just an unspeakable horror really to have to go through."

What has the show's creator said about the series?

Doughty said that she was "very clear" that the story would be entirely fictional, adding: "I just wouldn't have been comfortable basing it on a real-life event, I would have found that too difficult to do."

However, she said that she did watch "a lot of documentaries" and read "a lot of survivor accounts" to research "very carefully what has actually happened in these incidents".

Doughty added: "The thing that I felt really, really passionately about is that this story was going to be from the point of view of the victims. Because we have a lot of action dramas where there's a kind of hero/anti-hero thing going on with a shooter. And there's a lot from the shooter's point of view, and I was adamant from the start we're not doing that.

"You find out the absolute barest minimum about the nature of the attack and why it happens. And the point of view is very much with the ordinary people who are on the receiving end of the violence. The fact that they have lives, whole lives, running up to this terrible event, and then they have lives afterwards."

Doughty also said that she felt "particularly passionately" about having "a decent amount of time back in Leicester when they all come home", saying this was because "the truth is these appalling incidents happen and then people have to go to Tesco and buy vegetable oils or bake a cake. Ordinary life has to go on and how do you integrate something so extraordinary and so appalling with ordinary life?"

Doughty said: "So to me that was the whole point of the show, is we stay with the victims, we stay with the people on the receiving end and the show is from their point of view, because we need to honour those experiences and do it as sensitively as we can."

Crossfire continues on Wednesday 21st September 2022 at 9pm on BBC One, while the full series is available now on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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