BBC announces harrowing new crime drama based on true story of British model Chloe Ayling kidnapped in Italy

THE BBC has announced a harrowing new crime drama based on the kidnapping of British model Chloe Ayling.

The model and former Celebrity Big Brother star, 25, was snatched by a sex trafficking gang and held captive for six days in a remote Italian farmhouse.

Masked men kidnapped her after luring her to Milan with promises of a lucrative photoshoot which turned out to be fake.

She told police she was then drugged and stuffed inside a bag before being auctioned on the dark web for £250,000.

Lukasz Herba was convicted on June 11, 2018, of kidnapping the model after drugging her when she showed up in Milan for a modelling job.

The 31-year-old was convicted in a court in the Italian city and jailed for more than 16 years.

And now the BBC has commissioned a new drama series based on Chloe’s horrific ordeal.

The show, currently being called Kidnapped, will tell Ayling’s story based on her own book about the event.

It will also draw on detailed research, extensive interviews and documented legal proceedings.

The six-part series will air on BBC Three with Georgia Lester writing the drama after spending time with Chloe for her own personal account.

Lester is known for penning episodes of Channel 4‘s Skins and smash-hit show Killing Eve.

Filming is due to begin later this year with the Beeb still yet to announce the cast.

The Head of Drama for BBC Studios and the show’s executive producer said: “This is a jaw-dropping true story of a woman who survived a horrific ordeal using her wits, but was vilified in the aftermath.”

Priscilla Parish continued: “Georgia’s scripts are exemplary in their treatment of this highly topical subject matter.”