The New York Times & Serial Productions Announce “The Trojan Horse Affair"

The New York Times continues to strengthen its presence and podcasting. Consider its latest announcement.

The New York Times and Serial Productions have announced “The Trojan Horse Affair,” a new limited podcast series hosted by Brian Reed, known for his hit series “S-Town,” and Hamza Syed, a doctor-turned-reporter. Together, they investigate a mystery at the heart of a scandal that rocked Britain.

Listeners can subscribe to “The Trojan Horse Affair” and listen to the trailer now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available. All episodes of this eight-part series will be available on Thursday, February 3.

“‘The Trojan Horse Affair’ is investigative reporting on a roller coaster,” says Julie Snyder, the executive editor for Serial. “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.”

When a strange letter kicked off a national panic in Britain, Hamza Syed was skeptical. The letter appeared to be a secret communiqué between Islamic extremists who’d been infiltrating the city schools in Birmingham - Hamza's hometown - in a supposed plot called Operation Trojan Horse. The letter led to a crackdown on Muslim educators and harsh new British counterterrorism measures.

But Hamza suspected the public had been misled and the only way to prove it was to answer the one question that, remarkably, no official or investigator had bothered to look into: Who wrote the Trojan Horse letter — and why? When Hamza decided to go back to school for investigative journalism, he pitched this as his first story. To report it, he teamed up with Brian Reed and the creators of “Serial.”

Together, Hamza and Brian discover that who wrote the Trojan Horse letter was really only the first mystery to solve, as it started to seem like officials knew more than they were letting on. Had an entire country been duped?

“The Trojan Horse Affair” was edited by “Serial” host and co-creator Sarah Koenig, and produced by Brian Reed, Hamza Syed and Rebecca Laks, along with the staff at Serial Productions and The New York Times. The original score for “The Trojan Horse Affair” was written and performed by Thomas Mellor.

Serial Productions, a New York Times company, is the maker of the blockbuster podcasts “Serial” and “S-Town,” with more than 743 million total downloads. In July 2020, Serial Productions became part of The New York Times Company, and together they launched “Nice White Parents,” a series about the powerful forces shaping public schools; and “The Improvement Association,” a captivating true story about election fraud.

 

The Trojan Horse Affair podcast logo

 

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