Fred Atkins

Welcome to Kent Fred Atkins

Welcome To Kent is the story of The Maidstone Express: officially 'Britain's Shittest Paper' for the fourth consecutive year, according to a Guardian survey. It churns out stories about killer pot holes, custard powder shortages and newsagents that sell out of date pasties. The editor is suicidal, the chief reporter is a racist and there's a sex offender running the sports desk. When they accidentally libel a local surgeon the Express is on the brink of collapse, until it's rescued by a billionaire buy-to-let tycoon from South Africa. He installs a technology consultant, two talented but suspect executives and bankrolls a circulation war with the Express's reputable rival, the Maidstone Herald. The Herald's Star reporter Mo Godwin once dreamed about getting a job at the Daily Mail and coming up with a story so ludicrous it would shut the paper down. Now he's trying to track down a girl who vanished into thin air during a school trip, with local radio DJ Peter Pope the chief suspect. Godwin becomes convinced his former employers at the Express are hacking his stories but his bosses think he's making excuses. When the local priest's adopted daughter is abducted and no one seems interested in finding her he has the chance to solve both cases, save his newspaper and his career - all while trying to stop his best friend from marrying a piece of American trailer trash twice his age. Welcome to Kent is tale of prejudice in the deep south ... of England, set as a satire of the disintegrating local newspaper industry.