The Fire This Time originated when Wakefield and co-writer Miriam Ryle traveled to Iraq in order to film a follow-up to Ryle's documentary Voices in Iraq. Their footage, including an interview with U.N.Humanitarian CoordinatorHans-Christof von Sponeck critical of the sanctions on Iraq, was rejected by the BBC and Channel 4, with BBC World responding that they "do not accept rant pieces". Wakefield and Ryle instead produced a documentary for CD, consisting of spoken word, music, and clips of statements made by officials, journalists, media pundits and other figures such as American comedian Bill Hicks.[2]