Trailer released for The Wargame, launching on Sky from 21 September

Sky today announces The Wargame will launch on 21 September, with a live special following the series finale on 24 September. The Wargame is a new four-part thrilling constructed documentary series where senior politicians, military leaders and intelligence chiefs confront a simulated high‑stakes crisis: a Russian attack on UK soil.

Produced by The Garden, part of ITV Studios, (24 Hours in Police Custody) The Wargame brings viewers inside a sealed COBR‑style crisis room as an impressive cross-party cast, including Michael Gove, Nicola Sturgeon, Harriet Harman, Penny Mordaunt, Sayeeda Warsi, Jim Murphy, Ayesha Hazarika, Richard Barrons, Kim Darroch, Christopher Steele, George Robertson and Anthony Scaramucci, grapple with minute‑by‑minute decisions that could shape the fate of the nation.

The series will air nightly from Monday 21 September, with each episode revealing how the “Cabinet” responds to rolling news bulletins, intelligence reports and unexpected interventions as the scenario escalates.

To mark the conclusion of the simulation, the final episode (TX Thursday 24 September) will be followed by a special live programme, The Wargame: Live (w/t), filmed in front of a studio audience and hosted by Cathy Newman. Members of the cast will join the discussion to reflect on the pressures of decision-making at the highest level and explore the wider questions raised from this thrilling documentary series.

The Wargame (5x60) has been commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director, Unscripted Originals at Sky for Cécile Frot-Coutaz, Chief Advertising and Content Officer, Sky, CEO Sky Studios. The Head of Documentary Commissioning for Sky is Hayley Reynolds and the Commissioning Editor is Jo Hughes. Executive Producers for The Garden are Nicola Brown and Tom Fulford, the Series Director is Ben Harding, Series Producers are Ella Taylor and Zehra Yas, and the Line Producer is Sasha Davies.

The Wargame launches 21 September, on Sky and NOW

Press Pack available now on Sky Media Village.

Episode 5 - The Wargame: Live (working title) is a reaction and reunion show with the landmark series and its cast at its heart. Broadcast immediately after the final episode airs, it brings the cast back together for the first time, delivering exclusive reactions, reflections and the insight only they can provide. What did it feel like in the COBR room? What would they do differently?

Using the defining moments of the series as springboards, the live show digs into the detail and nuance behind the drama, turning the most chilling, agenda-setting scenarios into the big conversations affecting our audience directly: our defence and military capability, national resilience, our status as a nuclear nation, and the alliances we depend on. The show will be putting the fears in proportion, and responding directly to the debate the series provokes.

Crucially, the live show is the only place fans can come to get all their questions answered, from the people genuinely qualified to give them. Expert voices and senior figures at the heart of the topics separate real-world fact from fiction: could it happen and how can we respond? Plus, the cast will reveal show secrets and unseen moments from the series.

The result is a standalone, unmissable television event in its own right. Blending entertainment with genuinely compelling conversation and exclusive audience polls, the live show translates complex defence and military discussion into something accessible, human and gripping - anchored in the cast we have just spent hours on our sofas watching. Featuring reactions from media and commentators responding in real time to the topics the finale has sparked, The Wargame: Live captures the national conversation at the moment it ignites, and keeps the heart-in-mouth momentum going long after the series has ended.

The Wargame Cast

Leadership

• Prime Minister - The Rt Hon. the Lord Gove PC
• Deputy Prime Minister - The Rt Hon. Nicola Sturgeon PC
• Defence Secretary - The Rt Hon. Dame Penny Mordaunt DBE PC
• Home Secretary - The Rt Hon. the Baroness Harman KC PC
• Foreign Secretary - The Rt Hon. Jim Murphy PC
• Attorney General - The Rt Hon. the Baroness Warsi PC
• Director of Communications - The Baroness Hazarika MBE
• Chief of Defence Staff - General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE
• National Security Adviser - The Rt Hon. the Lord Kim Darroch KCMG
• Intelligence Chief - Christopher Steele

International Roles

• Nato Secretary General - The Rt Hon. the Lord Robertson KT GCMG PC
• US Secretary of State - Anthony Scaramucci

The Garden is one of the UK’s leading production companies, known for powerful documentaries and highly-innovative formats. Founded in 2010, and acquired by ITV Studios in 2013, the company has produced more than 600 hours of memorable and ground-breaking television such as RTS award-winning feature doc Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story, and What’s the Monarchy For? (BBC), BAFTA winning Squid Game: The Challenge (co-production with Studio Lambert for Netflix) and the long-running BAFTA nominated 24 Hours in Police Custody and 24 Hours in A&E (C4).