Today, to mark the launch of ZeroZeroZero, a drug-trafficking mini-series based on the book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, NOW TV and artist Nathan Wyburn unveiled a supersized map of the world comprised of 161kg of triple zero (000) flour. The artwork takes inspiration from the book’s tagline – “Look at cocaine and all you see is powder. Look through cocaine and you see the world” and highlights four peaks representing the European cities with the highest consumption rates.

Installed in Greenwich overlooking the City, Nathan crafted the map over a week, after months of preparation, using 161kg of the class A drug’s moniker, 000 flour. This is the gram for gram equivalent of cocaine consumed in London every week – the highest of any capital in Europe – worth upwards of £6,400,000 in street value.

The artwork highlights four peaks representing the European cities with the highest consumption rate. The tallest peak is London (161kg per week, 23kg per day), twice that of Barcelona (80.18kg per week, 12.74kg per day) which occupies second place, and almost three times that of Amsterdam and Berlin in third and fourth position with the smallest peaks.

Sky Original, ZeroZeroZero follows the journey, cost, and devastation of transporting a large shipment of cocaine from Mexico to Europe. The 7 x 5 metre artwork shines a sobering spotlight on the UK and European consumption rates of cocaine. It features the most popular shipping routes to Europe and the UK from South America, the Caribbean, West Africa and Brazil with seven cargo ships illustrating how 77% of cocaine is carried by sea.

Featuring an all-star cast including Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabriel Byrne, fast-paced series ZeroZeroZero focuses on the buyers, sellers and brokers who drive the frenzied and lethal world of international drug trafficking,

Commenting on the installation author Roberto Saviano said: “There is a river that flows under the big cities, a white river that originates in South America, which crosses Africa and branches out everywhere. Men and women, heads down, walk along the London boulevards… under their feet flows that white river, it flows impetuously.”

Artist Nathan Wyburn added: “I’ve worked with all manner of unique ideas and mediums over the years. This intricate piece for NOW TV has been incredibly interesting to design but it’s also harrowing to see such shocking statistics piled high in flour form.”

According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA): ‘Cocaine is the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in the European Union. Around 18 million adults (aged 15-64) in the EU have used cocaine at least once in their lifetime. Of these, around 3 million are young adults (aged 15-34) who have used the drug in the last year’.

The EMCDDA adds: ‘In 2018, the number of cocaine seizures and the quantity seized in the EU reached the highest levels ever recorded, with more than 110 000 seizures of cocaine reported, amounting to 181 tonnes’.