It's not uncommon for narrative podcasts to feature multiple hosts, but rarely are they made to interact, much less confront each other.
WHY NO NEW SERIAL PODCAST SERIES
And the way in which the series handles their sometimes-conflicting perspectives feels like a genuine revelation. They differ in nationality, journalistic experience and, of course, racial backgrounds. Reed and Syed represent different perspectives on the matter. But the experience takes on a richer dimension when the series reveals itself to also be about the different ways of looking at the role of journalism in the world. We are privy to the duo as they collaborate, compromise, argue and riff.
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There's an air of a road-trip movie to the proceedings.
At the heart of the podcast is the partnership between Reed and Syed, who also produced the series with Rebecca Laks.
You feel the excitement of excavating a new document, a new lead, a new name. It excels in bringing you inside the investigation. What ensues is a thrilling audio documentary, definitely Serial Production's very best since "S-Town," which Reed also hosted. Solve the mystery of the letter writer, and perhaps, you'll be able to rectify the effects of the letter once and for all - or at least that's the hope. He's the one who brings the story to Reed, along with a belief in the remedial properties of the truth. And leading the investigation is an unlikely duo - Brian Reed, a veteran producer at "This American Life," and Hamza Syed, a former doctor turned journalism student.Ī Birmingham native who happens to be Muslim, Syed is intimately familiar with the scandal, and his burning interest in uncovering the remaining unknowns of the Trojan horse affair is the catalyzing event for the series. This is where the podcast begins its inquiry. Remarkably, despite everything caused by the letter, the writer's identity and motivation had remained a mystery. In Birmingham, a city with a sizeable immigrant Muslim population, the Trojan horse affair ruined careers and thrust vulnerable communities deeper into the void. Of course, not everybody has the privilege of moving on. Known as the Trojan horse affair, referring to a phrase used in the letter, the scandal is generally recalled in the country these days as a mess best kept in the past. The panic also resulted in the implementation of harsh counterterrorism policies, which made life more difficult for Muslims living in the U.K. The document would later be widely regarded as fake, but that didn't stop a nationwide panic over Islamic extremism infiltrating schools and beyond.Ĭapitalizing on the moment, conservative politicians took the opportunity to stall a movement that sought to help immigrant communities improve education outcomes by integrating their culture into school curriculum. In 2014, an anonymous whistleblower leaked to the British press a photocopy of what appeared to be a secret communique, one that supposedly revealed an Islamist conspiracy to take over schools in the English city of Birmingham. QUAH: Except, of course, this is no fiction. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Didn't even look like a serious document, did it? It just seemed comical. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's unsigned, undated. A letter that, many people who've seen it agree, is ridiculous. It's hurt some of the country's most vulnerable children. This letter launched four government investigations, changed our national policy and ended careers. It's about a letter that surfaced in my city and had huge consequences for Britain. I don't plan for it to be my last story as well, but given what's happened in the years I've been working on this, it probably will be.
HAMZA SYED: This is my first story as a journalist. (SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE TROJAN HORSE AFFAIR") These are the starting points for the latest podcast from Serial Productions called "The Trojan Horse Affair," which follows an investigation that wouldn't feel out of place in a John le Carre novel.
NICK QUAH, BYLINE: A letter, a national scandal and a mystery. Podcast critic Nick Quah says it's Serial's best show since "S-Town." Here's Nick. Serial Productions recently released its latest investigative podcast series, "The Trojan Horse Affair." It's co-hosted by Brian Reed, a veteran producer of This American Life and host of the podcast "S-Town," and Hamza Syed, a doctor-turned-reporter from Birmingham, England.
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