It’s been eight whole years we first became utterly hooked on podcasts thanks to the gripping crime story that started our audio story obsession. Yup, somehow Serial – which follows the murder of Baltimore teenager Hae Min Lee and consequent arrest of her then boyfriend Adnan Syed – came out in 2014 (or so Google says). And now the makers behind the hit podcast have a new crime series which will be released later this week.
‘The Trojan Horse Affair’ will be available to listen to from 3rd February 2022 and will tell the story of a false conspiracy that Islamic extremists were plotting to take over schools in Birmingham. There will be eight episodes, all of which are read by Brian Reed (who also read the 2017 S-Town podcast which is also from the same producers) as well as Hamza Syed.
Julie Snyder, the executive editor of the show says: “The Trojan Horse Affair is investigative reporting on a roller coaster, The story itself is rooted in the most traditional practices of ‘who knew what when,’ but each chapter in the tale is also like its own bizarre mystery novel. Each time you think you’ve arrived at an obvious answer, another mystery unfolds.”
It all begins with a mystery letter which was sent to Birmingham City Council in 2013 which appeared to be part of a secret communication between Birmingham’s schools and Islamic terrorists. The letter was released to the press which resulted in a crackdown on Muslim educators and harsh British counterterrorism measures. The new podcast episodes will also delve into the effect the letter had on the years after it was sent, not just in Birmingham, but across the UK.
Better set an alarm for the morning…
Leave a Reply