First published October 2010

"Tim Luscombe has been sp ending a lot of time in South-East Asia and feels pretty angry about the despotic abuse of human rights in China. But almost as bad in his eyes is the UK’s apparently passive attitude to the problems this causes for tens of millions who do not benefit from the nation’s swelling capitalist gains.

But how, he pondered, could one make a meaningful play with a small cast about our cosy British relationship with the communist overlords and its effect on the Chinese populace?

It so happens that Luscombe’s other passion is for Formula One motor racing, a sport apparently making a headway in the Chinese Grand Prix, with early run-offs taking place around the hazardous Shanghai Racing Circuit.

Thus the Shanghai scene is set for a simple-minded British racing driver, played with dogged assurance by Andres Williams, who finds himself in the midst of a terrifying family squabble between an impassioned dissident woman (Lucy Sheen), calling for democracy and the rule of law on one side, and her journalist brother who successfully kowtows to the regime on the other."

To read the full review by John Thaxter click here

To read Billington's review click here