Chloe Ayling- My Unbelievable Kidnapping - Series 1- 1. The Kidnapping BBC Documentary 2025

Chloe Ayling- My Unbelievable Kidnapping - Series 1- 1. The Kidnapping

In summer 2017, Chloe Ayling is kidnapped in Italy by an international criminal gang known as Black Death.

A young ambitious model from south London, Chloe is set on making her way in the glamour industry and is less than a year into her rapidly growing career when her dream job turns into a nightmare. Secure in the knowledge her job has been vetted, and therefore unconcerned about travelling solo, she turns up for what she believes to be a photoshoot in Milan. But there, Chloe is grabbed from behind, drugged, bundled into a bag and driven to a remote farmhouse.

As Chloe awakes, she finds herself handcuffed to a chest of drawers. Soon, her captor emerges and asks whether she remembers him from Paris. She does - he was Andre, the photographer who booked her for a previous job that was cancelled at the last minute due to a terror attack in Paris. But he tells Chloe that he is not a photographer and not called Andre. He says he is known as ‘MD’.

Surprisingly calm, Chloe is able process this information without reacting emotionally whilst MD questions why she’s not screaming. In a self-reflective moment, Chloe questions whether her life-long ability to put her feelings to one side and look at a situation dispassionately may have worked in her favour in captivity. She hopes that this all might end quickly if she can try to keep ‘MD’ on side.

Back in the UK, Chloe’s agent, Phil, receives an email from Black Death which turns his world upside down. Chloe is due to be sold as a sex slave on the dark web in six days… unless Phil can raise enough money to stop the auction. He realises that his client is in grave danger and that he needs to work quickly to save her. Within 24 hours, both the UK and Italian police begin searching for Chloe. With no real clues or evidence to go on, and an auction deadline rapidly approaching, they know they are in a race against time.

Locked in the farmhouse, MD offers Chloe some food whilst telling her he uses poison most frequently when he has to kill people. She knows she’s dealing with a volatile man. She realises she’s going to have to do whatever it takes to escape - but how?