400 Strangers, a powerful new drama, lays bare the human reality behind the headlines. When 400 asylum-seeking men are housed in two East Midlands hotels, fear and distrust ripple through a once close-knit community, pulling family and friends apart with tragic consequences.
With her husband Shep (Peter Caulfield) out of work, Marie (Dorothy Atkinson) is struggling to feed her family. As tensions rise and opinions harden, her stepson Beano (Tom McLoughlin) becomes increasingly drawn into the polarising rhetoric swirling online.
Meanwhile, confined to hotel rooms with little to occupy them and no power to change their circumstances, the asylum seekers find themselves trapped in limbo. Yusef (Mohamed Elsandel) strikes up an unexpected friendship with Sarah (Andrea Lowe), offering a fragile thread of connection across the divide – even as social media inflames an already fraught situation and both sides dig deeper into opposing views.
Led by a cast including Andrea Lowe, Dorothy Atkinson, Nina Wadia and Aisling Loftus, 400 Strangers is a searing, compassionate portrait of a community on the brink – and a timely exploration of how quickly economic pressures and fear can turn neighbour against neighbour.
Written by Katie Farr
Director – Celia de Wolff
Sound Design – David Thomas
Producers – Chloe Sackur, Charlotte Melén
Broadcast Assistant – Catherine Phillips
Executive Producer – Charlotte Melén
An Almost Tangible production for BBC Radio 4.