Lights, Camera, Kidnap!

By Lucy Catherine

Episode 1

Set in that most secretive of hermit states, North Korea, we begin in the late 1970s when Kim Jung-Il, the Great Leader's son, is put in charge of the country's film industry at the age of 25. Like his father, Jung-Il sees cinema as an instrument of mass propaganda. But he's also a genuine movie buff and is appalled by the poor quality of North Korea's offerings. After all, this is the age of Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola - and Jung-Il can clearly see that his own country's unsophisticated melodramas are decades behind the West.

He is determined to put DPRK on the map through its movies and he concocts an audacious plan to kidnap South Korea's star film director Shin Sang-Ok and his estranged wife, the much-celebrated actress Choi Eun-Hee - and persuade them to work for him.

What follows is a truly remarkable narrative involving the kidnapping of both stars, Shin's failed escape attempts, his five-year incarceration in a labour camp, Choi's growing 'friendship' with her captor, her eventual re-union with her husband, the plotting of their escape while making 6 films for Jung-Il, the re-kindling of love, and their eventual escape to the US Embassy in Vienna. 

An 'audio-film' about love of the movies, love in captivity, a hidden culture, and one of the most eccentric dictators in history.

Written by Lucy Catherine, and drawing on material from the book A Kim Jong-Il production by Paul Fischer.

The songs were translated and arranged by Emma Harding, and sang by Wendy Kweh.

Choi Eun-hee: Liz Sutherland

Shin Sang-Ok: Paul Courtney Hyu

Kim Jong-Il: Leo Wan

Mrs Lee: Sarah Lam

Hak Sun: Wendy Kweh

Catherine Hong: Isabella Inchbald

Mister Kang: Samuel James

DI Crocker: Charlie Clements

DS Lam: Gary Duncan

Shin's Brother: David Reakes

Neighbour: Ellie Darvill

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

Drama

First broadcast: 

Mon 25th Sep 2017

14:15 on BBC Radio 4 FM

Lights, Camera, Kidnap!

Episode 2

Riotously entertaining feature-length true story of how a South Korean movie star and her estranged director husband were kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il, brought to North Korea and forced to revive the film industry. They are sent to labour camps, finally make amazing movies, rekindle their love and escape.

An 'audio-film' about love of the movies, love in captivity, a hidden culture, and one of the most eccentric dictators in history.

Written by Lucy Catherine, and drawing on material from the book A Kim Jong-Il production by Paul Fischer.

Shin Sang-Ok: Paul Courtney Hyu

Choi Eun-hee: Liz Sutherland

Kim Jong-Il: Leo Wan

The Professor: David Yip

Choe: David Reakes

Kusakabe: Samuel James

DPRK Agent: Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong

Guard: Gary Duncan

Brad: Adam Fitzgerald

Receptionist: Abbie Andrews

Newsreader: Isabella Inchbald

Newsreader: Ellie Darvill

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

Drama

First broadcast: 

Tue 26th Sep 2017

14:15 on BBC Radio 4 FM

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