Human trafficking might not be the most enticing film subject, but that's exactly why we need to listen, watch, read and learn about it.

A new feature film titled Doing Money is coming to BBC Two. It's based on the true story of Ana*, a student from Romania who was kidnapped on the streets of London in broad daylight and forced to become a sex slave in 'pop up brothels' in different cities across Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Currently, an estimated five million women and girls are in forced sexual exploitation around the world, according to the International Labour Organisation. When you hear or see newspaper headlines about human trafficking it can often seem like a very far away issue for us in the UK. But it happens here, too.

Ana, played by Anca Dumitra Renegade Pictures/Peter Marley BBC

In August, a woman called Ana* spoke to Cosmopolitan.com/uk about her harrowing experience of being kidnapped, repeatedly raped, beaten and sold for sex, against her will, over a nine month period before she finally managed to escape.



Both Ana and the police officers in Northern Ireland who brought down the pimps worked with the filmmakers to produce Doing Money. In the drama, which airs on BBC Two next week (November 5), Ana* is played by Romanian actress Anca Dumitra, who said the most difficult part of taking on the role was the fact it is a true story.

"It really happened to someone like me, or any of us. That's the main point, it's a real life story," Dumitra told Cosmopolitan and other media.

One of the main aims of the programme is to raise awareness. When the show was announced in August, Alex Cooke, the executive producer, said the production team hoped that telling Ana's story "will give a voice to those women who are too often invisible to the people around them".



Given that what she went through was so brutal and torturous, a lot of Ana's story is too harrowing to be shown on TV, even after the watershed. But what is covered is that Ana did sometimes go out in public with her pimps - often because she and the other victims were being moved from one brothel to another. Some of these 'pop-up' brothels were in rented accommodation on suburban residential areas, highlighting how these awful crimes could be going on in any neighbourhood.

Renegade Pictures/Peter Marley BBC

Doing Money also portrays what victims of human trafficking and modern slavery could look like to the outside eye and the situations you could see them in. Ana didn't look well: She was gaunt, bruised, her hair was falling out, she hadn't washed properly and was under the constant control and eye of abusive pimps. She would have looked scared, twitchy and almost like the life behind her eyes had been lost.

"I think Ana will say, 'How could people not have noticed?'" writer Gwyneth Hughes (who also wrote ITV's Vanity Fair) told Cosmopolitan. "Dirty, bruised, thin, starving girls with bald patches in their hair?... Try and notice things and don't be afraid to ask questions."

If you suspect anyone to be a victim of human trafficking, you can contact the Modern Slavery Helpline 08000 121700, local police on 101, or 999 in an emergency.

Doing Money is on BBC Two on Monday 5 November at 9pm.



* Names were changed in the film and book to protect the victims.

Olivia Blair Digital News Editor Olivia is ELLE's Digital News Editor covering pop culture, royal, lifestyle and women's news and features.

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