Episode details

Radio 4,23 Sep 2026,42 mins
Review Show: Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel, South Korean alien invasion thriller Hope and an adaptation of 1984.
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In this week's Review Show, our guest critics Hannah McGill and Fergus Morgan join Kirsty Wark to discuss three dystopian thrillers: Bestselling novelist Emily St John Mandel's latest work of speculative fiction, Exit Party, chronicles how a range of characters respond to a complete collapse in society - in America, where Texas and California are now republics, and militia roam the streets, and in Paris, where a giant dome has been constructed to protect elites. An alien invasion in the heart stopping South Korean sci-fi action thriller Hope, by writer, director and producer Na Hong-jin, which received an enthusiastic ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to become a smash box office hit. And a new adaptation of George Orwell's seminal 1984, in which a couple's love affair is an act of rebellion against a totalitarian regime, which is touring Scottish theatres between now and November. Producer: Mark Crossan
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