A series of seven stories seen through the eyes of children. A co-production with BBC Drama (London) for BBC Radio 4
What it is to be a child refugee: the peril, the decision to flee and the obstacles facing them as they leave home for the unknown.
Four of these stories were produced by Promenade Productions :
Gustav and Franziska
by Jonathan Myerson
Two Jewish children escape the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 helped by the persistence of a young British schoolteacher.
Starring Damian Lewis.
Drama | 8 December 2019 | 44 minutes
In the days after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, a Jewish family is faced with a terrible dilemma – save their two children, nine-year-old Gustav and his elder sister Franziska, but maybe never see them again.
When they hear of a scheme to get children to London on trains, their mother determines it’s the only way. This Kindertransport scheme, devised by Nicholas Winton, is left in the hands of two young schoolteachers, Trevor Chadwick and Beatrice Wellington his Canadian assistant.
With more than a little naivety and dogged persistence, amid the chaos of a new Nazi administration, this little-known story of Chadwick’s part in the saving of 700 Czechoslovakian children who otherwise would have suffered the fate of their parents, is the first of seven dramas in a series about the experience of child refugees since 1939.
CAST
Trevor Chadwick – DAMIAN LEWIS
Mama – SUSANNAH WISE
Papa – ALLAN CORDUNER
Gustav – HECTOR BATEMAN-HARDEN
Franziska – SOPHIA PETTIT
Nicholas Winton – DAVID MICHAELS
Beatrice Wellington – CHRISTY MEYER
Bömelberg – MARK EDEL-HUNT
Alfred Dubs – TOM HIBBERD
Directors – JONATHAN MYERSON & NICOLAS KENT
Chung-yun and So-ling
by Ben Okrent
1962. Two children escape the great famine in Mao Tse Tung’s China to British-administered Hong Kong.
Drama | 10 December 2019 | 44 minutes
Chung-yun and So-ling, two children from a village on the mainland, embark on a treacherous journey to escape the famine in Mao Tse Tung’s China by swimming across the South China sea to Hong Kong.
The journey, in their wretched state, is tough and on arrival they find the welcome is not exactly as they had wished. Escaping again from the clutches of a fisherman and his wife, Chung-yun is struck by a lorry and is taken to hospital.
It is at this point their luck begins to change with the support of Officer Wong and his wife, Rita, who make efforts to give the two children the opportunity for another life, rather than being sent back to the mainland.
CAST
Chung-yun – CHRIS LEW KUM HOI
So-ling – JADE CHAN
Fisherman and Foreman – OZZIER YUE
Fisherman’s wife and Carol – SIU-SEE HUNG
Officer Tony Wong – ANDREW LEUNG
Rita Wong – MICHELLE YIM
Superintendent Letts – ANDREW HAVILL
Director – DAVID TSE
Eve
by Chinonyerem Odimba
A thirteen-year-old girl is smuggled out of apartheid South Africa to join her ANC activist father in exile in London in 1972.
Drama | 12 December 2019 | 44 minutes
In the divisive years of apartheid South Africa, a young girl, Eve, is smuggled out of the country after her mother was killed. The secret plan to get Eve out, with the help of sympathisers of the ANC cause, is arranged by a white South African couple, now living in London where she will join her father, Joseph – played by Danny Sapani.
Although successful in their mission, they meet resistance from Joseph when Eve arrives in London. But her burgeoning friendship with the couple’s son, thirteen-year-old Jack, helps to win over Joseph until the Immigration Service call at the house to interview Eve throwing her and her father’s future into doubt.
CAST
Eve Motsamayi – NOKUKHANYA MASANGO
Joseph Motsamayi – DANNY SAPANI
Anne-Marie Levering – OLIVIA DRANLEY
Sean Levering – PAUL HERZBERG
The Nightingale – PAMELA NOMVETE
Mr. Junies – KEVIN HARVEY
Jack Levering – FELIX GILLINGWATER
Director – FEMI ELUFOWOJU Jr
Tarek
by Jonathan Myerson
The story of 14-year-old Tarek’s repeated attempts to get to Scotland and leave behind the horrors of war in Syria.
Drama | 15 December 2019 | 44 minutes
The family of 14 year-old Tarek’ is bidding him farewell in a restaurant in Idlib, northwestern Syria. Amid the partings and advice from his mother, father and sister and barrel bombs raining down, Tarek is bundled off on a perilous journey across Europe.
He can claim asylum once he’s in Britain – the problem is getting there.
Set in war torn Syria and across Europe, this is the final drama in a series of seven plays about the experience of child refugees fleeing persecution to find a new life in the UK since 1939.
CAST
Tarek – RONAK PATANI
Baba – PAUL CHAHIDI
Hozan – RACHID SABITRI
Zahra – SARA BAHADORI
Khaled – WALEED ELGARDI
Mama – NATHALIE ARMIN
Najib – DANNY RAHIM
Zilal – FARSHID ROKEY
Joanna – RUBY BENTHALL
Series devised by NICOLAS KENT with JACK BRADLEY
Original Music/Musical Supervision – JACK NEWTON
Studio Manager & Editor – MARK SMITH
Directors – JONATHAN MYERSON & NICOLAS KENT
Executive Producer – TOBY SWIFT
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTON
A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4