Just in time for the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers, the BBC announced on Wednesday it was producing a drama “inspired by” the investment bank’s collapse.
“The Last Days of Lehman Brothers” will feature James Cromwell (Six Feet Under, 24, W, LA Confidential) as Hank Paulson and Corey Johnson (Spooks, United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum) as Dick Fuld.
According to the Beeb, the 60-minute “work of fiction inspired by the real events that took place on the weekend of 12 September 2008″ will tell “the story of what happened the weekend that Lehman’s Bank went to the wall”.
As the BBC tells it:
By Friday 12 September 2008 confidence in the American bank Lehman Brothers had plunged.
Its clearing bank was demanding more collateral, its attempts to raise money from a Korean bank had stalled and credit agencies warned that, if it did not raise more capital, it would be downgraded.
The heads of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks were summoned to an evening meeting by the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson (James Cromwell), to discuss the plight of another – Lehman Brothers.
After six months’ turmoil in the world’s financial markets, Lehman Brothers was on life support and the government was about to pull the plug.
Lehman CEO, Dick Fuld (Corey Johnson), recently sidelined in a boardroom coup, spends the weekend desperately trying to resuscitate his beloved company through a merger with Bank of America or UK-based Barclays.
But without the financial support of Paulson and Lehman’s fiercest competitors, Fuld’s empire – and with it, the stability of the world economy – teeters on the verge of extinction.
Not that we’re opposed to hyperbole here on FT Alphaville, but “the verge of extinction” does seem a tad over-egged. Nonetheless, we’re looking forward to it. Expect a review when it airs.
Related links:
“The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy is fading into history” – FT Alphaville
Short-selling villain casting call – FT Alphaville