Apple partners with the BBC to bring '9/11: Inside the President's War Room'

Apple announces a new documentary, "9/11: Inside the President's War Room" to be released on BBC One and Apple TV+ in September.

The documentary special will tell the story of 9/11 through the eyes of the presidency in the 12 hours after the attack. It will be narrated by Jeff Daniels and provide unique insight into the dilemmas of those involved through first-hand accounts.

Testimony will be included from:

President George W. Bush
Vice President Dick Cheney
Condoleezza Rice (national security advisor)
Colin Powell (secretary of state)
Andy Card (chief of staff)
Dan Bartlett (director of communications)
Rear Admiral Deborah Loewer (head of Situation Room)
Josh Bolten (deputy chief of staff)
Ari Fleischer (press secretary)
Karl Rove (senior advisor to the president)
Mary Matalin (advisor to Cheney)
Karen Hughes (special advisor to the president)
Mike Morrell (CIA briefer)
Ted Olson (solicitor general)
Colonel Mark Tillman (Air Force One pilot)
David Wilkinson and Tony Zotto (Secret Service)

There will also be over 200 never-before-seen photographs of the events throughout the day as Bush and Cheney dealt with the tragedy. Filmed archive footage will also be included in the documentary.

"9/11: Inside the President's War Room" hails from an award-winning team including Grierson and Royal Television Society Award-winning director Adam Wishart, Emmy Award-winning creative producer Simon Finch and BAFTA Award-winning executive producer Neil Grant.

The special documentary will air on BBC One and Apple TV+ in September. Customers can subscribe to Apple TV+ for $4.99 per month or via any tier of Apple One.

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21 Comments

maestro64 19 Years · 5029 comments

About 3 years ago

Kind of pathetic that British company had to document an event that happen in the US. I suspect most of those people White House at that time did not want to speak with anyone in the US media these days.

AppleZulu 8 Years · 2205 comments

maestro64 said:

Kind of pathetic that British company had to document an event that happen in the US. I suspect most of those people White House at that time did not want to speak with anyone in the US media these days.

This year is the twentieth anniversary of that event. It's sort of odd you would make a remark that seems to assume this will be the only coverage of the subject this year. I suspect there will be a lot of documentaries and specials on this, including many which will be produced by American media companies and include interviews with many or all of those listed above.

foregoneconclusion 12 Years · 2857 comments

I have a hard time believing that much of the insight will be unique. Everyone knows by now what happened: the Bush administration initially emphasized that terrorists were an unconventional threat that had to be countered with unconventional means, but the White House still ended up choosing conventional military invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq as the primary response to 9/11.

Appleish 8 Years · 717 comments

Step 1) Ignore the advice of the previous administration to keep a laser focus on Osama bin Laden
Step 2) Kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in the wrong country and reap amazing oil profits

We don't need to watch it. We lived it.

Japhey 6 Years · 1772 comments

maestro64 said:

Kind of pathetic that British company had to document an event that happen in the US. I suspect most of those people White House at that time did not want to speak with anyone in the US media these days.

Are you forgetting the dozens of documentaries that already exist? Or assuming that this will be the only new one to air on the 20th anniversary? It’s not really pathetic at all, and you will have plenty of options to choose from in what will likely be an entire week of remembrance. Plus, it may actually offer a fresh point of view from the outside perspective of America’s closest ally. Or, maybe it won’t. The point is, it’s not really that big of a deal that’s it’s from the BBC.