Collapse heard around the world makes it to the small screen

It was just a matter of time before the drama of the global economic collapse found its way to the movies. It has been nearly one year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and our friends from across the pond are marking the occasion with a made-for-TV docudrama that chronicles the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Last Days of Lehman Brothers begins airing on BBC Two in the UK today. It also will be broadcast on BBC One later this month (however, no plans yet for it to turn up on BBC America).

BBC touts the hour-long program as a drama that goes “behind closed doors to tell the story of three days that shook the world.” It stars American actors James Cromwell as former treasury secretary Henry Paulson and Corey Johnson as Lehman’s former CEO, Dick Fuld. Of course this is a fictionalized account of what went on and the screen writers admit that they amped up the drama a bit to make it more “fun.” And of course what would a BBC program be without a bit of British humor? Writers invented the character “Zach” as Fuld’s personal assistant for some comical relief and to keep the movie from being a straight drama.

I guess if you can’t laugh at one of the world’s most darkest moments, then what can you do? The British sure know how to cheer us all up. Hopefully we Americans will have a chance to check out the the movie for ourselves.

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Image from The Last Days of Lehman Brothers on BBC.