BBC Radio 4, June 27 2017

Election time in Grenoble, France – and tempers start to flare when the Front National candidate makes his party’s position clear…

This season of Dangerous Visions’ theme of change continues with Adrian Penketh’s three-part tale which jumps ahead a mere three years to look at the state of France as tension rises between the Muslim community and others. Joseph Millson is excellent as Vincent, the Front National Mayoral hopeful who really can’t help himself from saying exactly what he means – and finding that that can both get him in trouble and gain him extra support.

Penketh’s play, like Al Smith’s Culture, takes a current situation and pushes it just a little further forward, rather than taking a huge leap into the unknown. Vincent’s heartfelt speech at the town hall will ring bells with many listeners (and one suspects that a large number of Radio 4 listeners may well find themselves nodding along with him, particularly when he talks about the role of tradition and culture). The siege of the title, in this episode at least, seems to refer to the way that traditionalists feel threatened – Grenoble is home to a large, nationally-known, council estate filled with disaffected Muslims, and in parallel with Vincent’s story, we see a young Muslim boy whose widowed mother is getting increasingly concerned about him.

Verdict: An all too credible scenario brought to life well. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to listen to Siege part 1 on iPlayer