The Zelensky Story | Preview (BBC Two)

Told across three episodes, the series charts Zelensky’s journey from young actor and entertainer to one of the most recognisable leaders on the planet, presiding over a nation at war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Filmed over several trips to Ukraine, Series Director Michael Waldman is granted rare access to interview President Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska, who speak in unguarded terms about their extraordinary lives.

What emerges is a portrait of a young couple plunged into an extraordinary situation – childhood sweethearts who got married and rose to stardom, before being thrown into politics, and into the heart of the biggest invasion in Europe since World War II.

As well as interviews with the family and their inner circle, the series includes new accounts from world leaders including Boris Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak, who each give dramatic first-hand testimony of their dealings with Zelensky – and Putin - in the lead up to a full-scale military invasion.

Combining exclusive interviews with extraordinary archive footage never before broadcast in the UK, the series sheds new light on the origins of the war in Ukraine and the two men at its epicentre: Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

With unique access to Volodymyr Zelensky and Olena Zelenska, this episode charts Zelensky’s extraordinary journey from aspiring comedian to president of his country.

Opening with the collapse of the Soviet Union – an event which had a profound effect on Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in very different ways - it features rarely seen footage of Putin in the early 1990s describing the collapse of the USSR as a “tragedy”.

Alongside archive footage of a young Zelensky performing, his wife, childhood friends and former colleagues describe how Zelensky became a famous comedian both in Ukraine and in Russia, at one point cracking an early gag about Putin. He goes on to win Ukraine’s Dancing with the Stars, and becomes the voice of Paddington Bear.

In 2014 the Maidan Revolution sparks an initial political awakening in Zelensky. When he is asked to go on live TV, he chooses to speak out against the corrupt Ukrainian president and, extraordinarily, addresses Putin directly.

Zelensky goes on to produce and star in a hit TV show about an ordinary Ukrainian who becomes president of his country, called Servant of the People. It proves to be a remarkable foreshadowing.

As Zelensky’s star continues to rise, First Lady Olena Zelenska makes a jaw-dropping revelation - he didn’t tell her that he had decided to run for president in real life. She recalls how she discovered the news along with the rest of the nation, while watching TV.

President Zelensky responds by looking directly down the lens and apologising to his wife. As the episode comes to a close, Mrs Zelenska reveals, for the first time, that she had a faint hope her husband would not win the election.

The Zelensky Story begins Monday 2nd September on BBC Two.