Creating 'Fauda'

> Raz and Issacharoff, Jerusalemites whose families both originally came from Arab countries, have been friends since they were 16 and were both in the elite unite, called the Duvdevan, which is featured in the series.

> They had joined the reserves of the unit, working in the West Bank, when they came up with the idea of Fauda. By then Issacharoff was already a top journalist and Raz a jobbing actor. “Avi asked me if I had a dream and I told him I wanted to write something about the people we were then with, about the mental price they were all paying, the price everybody surrounding them was paying,” says Raz. “We both wanted to talk about the Palestinian side too because knowing who they are is just as important.”

> Finding someone willing to make the show was a struggle. Israelis live with the conflict; when they watch the television they prefer light entertainment. Raz and Issacharoff got a lot of no’s.

> “We managed to find someone to help us pitch to the production company Yes,” recalls Issacharoff. “There was one guy and three women in the room. He was enthusiastic, the women seemed less so. They said, ‘This show won’t be watched by women.’ But they still took it on, it became the success it became, and when they did research into the viewers, they found more women were watching the show than men.

> “We don’t know the exact reasons for the success but I think a big part of it is the authenticity. We took stories from real life, from our lives, and we put them in the story. Every episode of Fauda, every character, you will find something that is real. And sometimes we almost predict things; in our third season we wrote about our team being exposed while they were working in the Gaza Strip. As we were writing it, there was a real team of undercover soldiers that were exposed – so we were having this strange dialogue with reality.

Future of 'Fauda'

> Because the show has become such an international success – with India making the first local version – Raz and Issacharoff have a very international outlook. Their company, Faraway Road Productions, is planning to team up with creatives from across Arab nations to create more work that crosses borders...

> There are also plans for a show set in London and, of course, more Fauda. “We are talking very seriously about making a Fauda movie and we are very open to more seasons,” says Raz. “This has all been a brilliant adventure and we are not sure when it will end.”