Prince Harry during his 10-week spell in Helmand province, Aghanistan. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images 
 
 It has never been scared of airing controversial programmes about the royal family – and later this month Channel 4 will broadcast its latest, a dramatised documentary about the hypothetical kidnapping of Prince Harry while on military duty in Afghanistan. 
 
 In the 70-minute programme to be shown on 21 October, Harry, played by Sebastian Reid, is kidnapped after the Apache helicopter he is flying crashes, and is then taken to Pakistan. When a British-born fighter recognises him, he is forced to appear in a video for the Taliban demanding troops leave Afghanistan. 
 
 Harry is shown appearing on a Taliban video saying: "My name is Captain Harry Wales. I'm being fed, I'm comfortable and I'm being looked after very well. The price of my release is that coalition troops must leave Afghanistan, starting immediately. If that does not happen, I will never return home and you will never find my body." 
 
 Hamish Mykura, Channel 4's head of documentaries, justified the subject matter by saying it was clear that kidnapping in Afghanistan is on the increase and the Prince would be a target were he to return. "It's a very real and live issue and one that we think is well worth exploring." 
 
 But while the programme also includes extensive interviews with former intelligence officers, military commanders, negotiators, as well as those who had previously been held hostage – including Guardian journalist Shoaib Sharifi and Jere Van Dyk, the CBS journalist who was held hostage for 45 days in 2008 – Channel 4's approach is likely to raise questions. The programme's focus on Prince Harry will prompt accusations of sensationalism. But the broadcaster says it has acted responsibly and was careful not to show anything on screen that experts did not believe could happen. 
 
 It also says it is correct to question whether Britain should allow high-value targets to be on the front line. "If you're going to analyse that it's probably a story best told by looking at the number one target in this situation. And Prince Harry is the number one target," Mykura said. 
 
 According to Channel 4, the royal family had been informed about the programme, but had not made any response. Today a spokesman for Clarence House said: "We're not going to comment on this work of fiction." 
 
 Prince Harry served in Afghanistan's Helmand province as a forward air controller for 10 weeks from December 2007. Due to worries that he could become a Taliban target, his presence in the country was kept secret with a news blackout agreed between the UK media and the Ministry of Defence. 
 
 The blackout was broken when news aggregator the Drudge Report ran a story about his deployment, and Harry was flown home. Earlier this year, it was reported that the prince wanted to return to Afghanistan to fly the Lynx attack helicopter. 
 
 Channel 4 said it had discussed whether The Taking of Prince Harry would "simply put ideas into people's heads", but decided that there were already websites calling for him to be made a target. 
 
 "It's clearly not an idea that would be new to the Taliban or al-Qaida or to their supporters," Mykura said. 
 
 There will likely be questions, however, about why it was felt necessary to make the programme as a dramatised documentary – with heightened scripted sections between interviews with experts – rather than a more traditional documentary. 

 PRINCE Harry was last night furious at a new Channel 4 drama that shows him captured by the TALIBAN ï¿½ and turning TRAITOR. 
 
 What if? ... Prince Harry on duty 
 
 The shock programme later this month sees the soldier prince begging for his life at gunpoint as terrorists video him. 
 
 Harry, 26 ï¿½ played by lookalike actor Sebastian Reid ï¿½ pleads: "All Western troops must withdraw from Afghanistan or they will behead me." 
 
 Last night Top Brass were also appalled by the programme ï¿½ amid speculation that Harry is poised for a second tour of duty in Afghanistan. 
 
 His first lasted just ten weeks amid a media blackout 2ï¿½ years ago to prevent him being a Taliban target ï¿½ until a magazine blew his cover. 
 
 The Palace yesterday echoed ex-Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Guthrie who slammed the new "docu drama" ï¿½ mixing real news footage with fiction ï¿½ as "extremely unhelpful for all our soldiers in Afghanistan". 
 
 It even shows top secret Cobra emergency meetings as the crisis deepens ï¿½ based on info from an army of respected advisers. 
 
 They include Richard Kemp, who was commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, and exï¿½Scotland Yard special ops supremo Andy Hayman CBE. 
 
 Defiant makers of The Taking Of Prince Harry yesterday insisted threats to kidnap him were "already out there". 
 
 Their programme on October 21 shows him captured after surviving a helicopter crash. A terrorist with a Midlands accent recognises him. 
 
 He is sprung from a jail after it is bombed by CIA drones. 
 
 An "angry" Prince Harry was last night said to have "no plans" to watch it. 
 
 A HEART attack victim aged 52 who was helicoptered off an oil rig by Prince William on Saturday left hospital in Blackpool yesterday. 
 
 l.connolly@the-sun.co.uk
– Prince Harry begs his Taliban captors for his life in a British drama to be broadcast later this month, and the royal soldier is not amused. Channel 4's "dramatized documentary" The Taking of Prince Harry mixes footage of a kidnapped Harry, played by actor Sebastian Reid, with real interviews with former intelligence officials and Taliban captives to explore what could happen if insurgents really did seize the prince and threatened him with beheading, the Guardian reports. A palace spokesman called the drama "unhelpful," and Harry himself is "furious," according to the Sun. The show's creators say the issue is worth exploring because it's clear that the prince would be a prime kidnap target if he returns to Afghanistan. Harry's first tour of duty in Afghanistan ended after just 10 weeks when the Drudge Report broke a media blackout about his posting, and the prince, currently training to fly attack helicopters, has made it clear that he wants to go back.