Sideways: Siding with the Enemy

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.

A criminal walks into a Swedish bank brandishing a machine gun. He takes a handful of bank workers hostage. The police lock the victims and their captors in the vault and then things start to get weird. Despite being held captive and threatened with violence, the hostages side with the criminals.

Stockholm Syndrome is born.

In this episode, Matthew Syed reexamines the birth of this peculiar psychiatric disorder and discovers that all is not what it seems.

Producer: Gemma NewbyMusic, Sound Design and Mix: BenbrickSeries Editor: Russell FinchExecutive Producers: Sean Glynn and Max O'Brien

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Seriously...

Seriously is home to the world’s best audio documentaries and podcast recommendations, and host Vanessa Kisuule brings you two fascinating new episodes every week.

• No. of episodes: 477
• Latest episode: 2024-04-23
• Society & Culture

Where can you listen?