Podcast Corner: Trojan Horse Affair is the latest offering from Serial stable

An indepth look at the furore in Birmingham around a conspiracy theory that efforts were being made to Islamise schools in the UK city

The Trojan Horse Affair: Hamza Syed and Brian Reed. Picture: Sean Pressley

The Trojan Horse Affair is the latest series from Serial Productions (and New York Times) and features a familiar voice, that of Brian Reed, last heard mired in S-Town. From Alabama in America to Birmingham in England, over the course of this eight-episode series, all released in one go at the start of February, Reed has teamed up with strident student journalist Hamza Syed to investigate Operation Trojan Horse.

Very basically: A school in Birmingham has had a remarkable turnaround in its grades, led by Tahir Alam, who realised that the student demographic (nearly 90% Pakistani) is not matched by the teaching staff (only one full-time Pakistani Muslim teacher), an issue which he quickly sets about addressing.