Created and written by Andrea Heaton and Adam Z. Robinson

Cheer up, love, it might never happen.

What if it already has?

Smile Club, a 6-part drama series available on podcast patterns, takes us into a dystopian alternative world where women are discriminated against, abused, gaslit and subjugated. Wait, did I say alternative world?

The first episode sets out a scenario that, while slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect, is almost possible to imagine. I’ve had ‘cheer up, love’ thrown at me by random strangers when I’ve been perfectly happy, just deep in thought, and I can’t stand it. Lisa is pushed to the edge of tolerance after a catastrophic day, and lashes out at an ill-timed comment… the spark that starts the fire. Hopefully we’d have the self-control to stop before the lashing out occurs, but Lisa sadly doesn’t and what then befalls her is a result of the social and political climate in which she finds herself. How awful that she is forced to do battle in a legal system that is weighted against her, it’s great that the real world doesn’t have such prejudice against any group within society. Insert eye-roll emoji here.

That’s a key point right there – that this world is frighteningly close to our own, and as nightmare-inducing audio-dramas go, it certainly understood the assignment. Lisa is ‘made an example of’, she’s locked up and the key thrown away… by Paula… a delightfully deranged prison warden / teacher who has internalised so much misogyny, her blood’s probably 90% bigotry. As a clever aside, the actress (Andrea Heaton) who voices Lisa also voices Paula – and she’s one of the writers too, together with Adam Z Robinson. It took me a while to realise she voiced both, as it’s so well executed. I think that fact can be taken to have a more ‘meta’ meaning too, possibly hinting that any woman has it in her to be Lisa or Paula, or anywhere in between. Most of us have tried to rage against the patriarchal machine, and most of us have had to pick our battles or placate and appease instead, and it’s made us feel sick.

Smile Club – a correctional facility for rebellious women that I would most certainly be incarcerated at if some of the people I’ve met in the course of my work over the years had their way – is designed to mould and shape women into more compliant and mailable members of society.  Think of it as the worst-case scenario #MeToo backlash, if people hadn’t finally decided that women were worth listening to, and instead our abusers doubled-down.

The series surprises me with some harsh twists and turns: Lisa’s cellmate, her old school friend, the model-pupil that she’s forced to associate with – all suffer as the layers of Smile Club are peeled back, and more than one episode has a shocking conclusion, with cliffhangers that will have you reaching for the ‘next episode’ button. We learn other stories, and I’m frequently surprised as the tale takes a few unexpected turns. Why did I assume that all inmates would become allies? Some events are a little more obvious in terms of the story’s direction, but that doesn’t make them any less appalling.

One of the surprising elements is the identity of Lisa’s sponsor – the person who is ostensibly supporting her on her ‘journey’. I like the balance that this particular episode gives the story – there’s always more than meets the eye and there is no easy ‘good’ or ‘bad’ side here, just as in life.

As Lisa’s situation turns from bad to worse, Paula descends into truly unhinged. I’m not sure exactly how this can all be wrapped up as the final episode begins… Lisa is relegated to the remedial stream and the dreaded order ‘smile’ rattles through her brain as she is subjected to the very torture she witnessed earlier. Does it finally break her? Turn her hopes to ashes? Hope is more powerful than that, and now, she’s ready.

Verdict: You’ll be alright. In the end. 8/10

Claire Smith

Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/smile-club/id1648880117

Audible : https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Smile-Club-Podcast/B0BHJK53NW

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zPTrpXTj8Xjk6aUrigdO5