A Tale of Two Cities

Ayeesha Menon's reworking of Charles Dickens' iconic story of love, revolution and redemption, updated to modern-day London and war-torn Syria. 2011, Syria. The Arab Spring is underway, and after a wave of peaceful protests, President Assad agrees to a release of political prisoners. Freed after 30 years, Dr Mahmoud is taken in by Taghreed and Emad Daffar and brought to England by his old friend Jarvis Lorry and the daughter he has never met, foreign correspondent Lina. But his years of suffering have left him a broken man. Back in London, Jarvis convinces his nephew Sid Carton, a feckless but brilliant barrister, to defend a young Syrian émigré doctor, Shwan Dahkurdi, against charges of supporting terrorism. Lina and Shwan fall in love, only for his dark family secret to tear them apart.... Meanwhile, convinced that only Lina gives his life meaning, Sid confesses his unrequited love, promising to do anything for her and those she loves. As the city of Aleppo turns into a