A tiger, Patrick Janssens and a GVA journalist: the Antwerp political scandal you never heard about before (Antwerp)
Parallel is the name of the podcast series that could be received on Radio 1 last week. The company Het Geluidshuis, based in Antwerp, made five audio documentaries, in which a fictitious history was broached on the basis of interviews with so-called witnesses.
“Radio 1 knocked on our door asking if we could create a fiction podcast series that matched the spirit and identity of the station. That’s how we came up with the idea to get started with the theme of ‘fake news’”, says Pieter-Jan Vinckx of Het Geluidshuis.
(read more below)
Listen to the radio play ‘Tiger’ via the website of Radio 1, or via Spotify:
in the episode Tiger An important period is laid, which takes place in Antwerp around the turn of the century. Your thunder in Cologne has everything to do with the timing of the publication of the research work in Gazette of Antwerp was not very well chosen. After all, on that day in the fall of 2008, the election of President Barack Obama pushed all other news into the background.
Main ingredients of the juicy story are – already wanting to give a lot away – exotic animals, the millennium bug, policymakers who make decisions in a panic reaction and a persistent journalist from your newspaper.
A clear intermediate role in the fictional radio play is reserved for Patrick Janssens, mayor of Antwerp in 2003 and 2012, who breaks out in a cold sweat when the so-called cover-up operation is expected to come out.
No millennium bug scandal in Antwerp
“I know the people of Het Geluidshuis a little bit and my children have always enjoyed their audio plays. Out of sympathy, and also because they are located in the Kiel, I gladly accepted their request to play a part in this story,” says Patrick Janssens when we ask how the makers convinced him to play a role in this story. to take on the role of mayor of Antwerp once more.
It must be said that he plays his part, as if he is an experienced voice actor. “Well, it was actually quite easy. The script (by screenwriter Koen Van Deun, ed.) was well put together. I just reformulated a few things to make it sound more like I would say it in my own words. It was all done in two of three takes.”
For a new career as a voice actor, however, Patrick Janssens seems to be a passenger. “I usually say ‘no’ when they ask me to participate in these kinds of things, unless it’s really good or comes across as natural. That was the case here. I don’t think I’ll get into trouble with this either, because it should be obvious that this is purely fiction. There has never been a millennium bug scandal in Antwerp, I can assure you,” laughs the former Antwerp mayor.