The Messenger is expertly crafted, and powerful storytelling. A podcast collaboration between Behind the Wire and the Wheeler Centre, the ten-part series takes you inside the Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island – and reveals, in intimate detail, one man’s experience of what it’s really like to flee tragedy and seek asylum by boat.

As an idea, the podcast was initially selected as the winner of the Wheeler Centre’s So You Think You Can Pod competition in 2016, and has since been developed by a team of talented producers and writers. Episodes are created based on thousands of voice messages sent via WhatsApp between Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee currently detained on Manus, and Michael Green, a journalist based in Melbourne. These short bursts of audio are postcard snippets that reveal the growth of a tender friendship, and the heartbreaking realities of fleeing your home and living with an uncertain future in offshore detention.

The Messenger won a Grand Award and two Gold Awards at the New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards in June 2017.