11 Great Podcasts That You Have To Listen To!
About two weeks ago I was writing My Complete Top Podcast List, which includes all the Podcasts that I have featured in various articles on the Blog. When I was putting them all together I realised some of my absolute favourites were missing… long story short I think I deleted an older blog that featured them all. So, here they are again!
1. The Lighthouse: Searching for Théo Hayez - Presented By David Murray for The Australian.
The Lighthouse true crime Podcast follows the search for a missing young man named Théo Hayez. Originally from Brussels, Théo was 18 years old and approaching the end of his backpacking holiday when he vanished from Byron Bay, Australia in May 2019.
I was familiar with Théo’s disappearance from the media coverage it received at the time of his disappearance. The Podcast is absolutely gripping, giving a real in-depth view of everything before, during and after his disappearance. You get to hear from members of Théo’s family who supported the making of the Podcast and who have done so much investigating themselves. This is a heart-breaking missing persons case that needs to be kept in the spotlight.
2. Problem Child - An Australian True Crime Podcast.
Problem Child Podcast tells the story of Keli Lane, an Australian woman convicted of murdering her newborn infant Tegan. The Podcast explores:
“… why Keli concealed three pregnancies from everyone around her, and we will thoroughly examine the trial process, court documents, and delve deeply into the background of Keli Lane. We will explore Keli’s current situation in Silverwater Womens Correctional Facility in NSW, Australia, and document her attempts to free herself from prison along with help from the RMIT innocence initiative and ABC exposed – who are advocating on Keli’s behalf for a Judicial Review.” (Source here).
The story of Keli Lane is truly captivating and quite unbelievable, many times while listening I found myself thinking “WTF?!”.
3. Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder Exposed - Produced By Deeivya Meir & Peter Jukes.
Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder Exposed was one of the very first Podcasts I ever listened to and is probably the reason why I am hooked on true crime Podcasts still now.
Daniel Morgan was a Private Investigator who was brutally murdered with an axe to the head, in the car park of the Golden Lion Pub, South London on the 10th of March 1987.
About this Podcast, taken from here:
“The phone hacking scandal that closed News of the World was big, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. At the bottom of that iceberg of ‘dark arts’ - hacking, burglary, bugging, and bribing bent cops - is the body of Daniel Morgan. It’s been described by an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police as “one of the most disgraceful episodes in the entire history of the Metropolitan Police Service.” Over the three decades since Daniel was killed, five failed police investigations and an ongoing panel inquiry, his has become the most investigated murder in British history. The story moves from back streets of London, through the highest echelons of Scotland Yard, to the offices of Rupert Murdoch’s best selling newspapers, to the doors of Number Ten Downing Street. If you haven’t heard this story, ask yourself, why?”.
Daniel’s brother Alastair features heavily in this Podcast, working hard to find answers, uncover the truth and get justice for his brother.
4. William Tyrrell - Nowhere Child - By Caroline Overington for The Australian.
This is another great Podcast from The Australian. William Tyrrell - Nowhere Child is an investigative Podcast:
“… exploring the case of William Tyrrell — a three-year-old boy who vanished while in state care.” (Source here).
William Tyrrell was only three years old when he disappeared from the village of Kendall, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia on September 12th 2014. At the time of his disappearance William was in foster care, playing happily in the garden of his “grandmothers” house while wearing a red Spider-Man suit. He simply vanished. This Podcast looks at William’s case in its entirety and speaks to many of the key people involved in the case.
The inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell is on-going (although currently suspended due to Coronavirus). You can read about it here.
5. Lost In Larrimah - By Kylie Stevenson & Caroline Graham for The Australian.
You might have noticed that I really like The Australian Podcasts (this is the third one I’m including in this blog). This particular Podcast was even more intriguing as the missing man at the centre of it is Paddy Moriarty and he was born in Ireland!
Lost In Larrimah investigates the disappearance of 70 year old Paddy Moriarty (and his dog Kellie) from a small outback town (that has only 12 residents) in Australia.
“An outback town, a missing man and 11 people who mostly hate each other.” (Source here).
There are only six episodes so binge listening is definitely the way to go!
6. Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo - By Connie Walker for CBC News.
This Podcast is not for everyone, there are some really graphic descriptions of abuse, sexual exploitation and violence. Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo is an investigative Podcast by Connie Walker that sets out to uncover what really happened to Cleo (Alerta Williams):
“It’s a mystery her family has been trying to unravel for decades after the young Cree girl was apprehended by child welfare workers in Saskatchewan in the 1970’s. Her siblings say she was stolen, and then raped and murdered while trying to hitchhike back home, her body left at the side of the road somewhere in the United States. They have no idea where she is, whether her name was changed, or if anyone has been charged in her murder. (Source here).
I found this Podcast really interesting as I knew very little about the Indigenous people who “are” this Podcast, or the Indian reserve of the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan and the controversial program “Adopt Indian and Métis” that operated in the 1960s and 1970s in Canada. This program led to:
“First Nations and Métis children were increasingly apprehended by social workers and made wards of the provincial departments of Social Services.5 Termed “the Sixties Scoop,” Indigenous children across Canada and the United States were fostered and adopted by non-Indigenous families in turn losing their culture, language and connection to families and communities.” (Source here).
This Podcast was truly eye opening and certainly hard to listen to in parts due to the nature of the information uncovered and presented as the investigation progressed.
7. The Missing Cryptoqueen - By Jamie Bartlett for the BBC.
The Missing Cryptoqueen Podcast looks into Dr Ruja Ignatova who:
“… persuaded millions to join her financial revolution.” (Source here).
And then she disappeared! Her revolutionary cryptocurrency OneCoin was not all that she made it out to be! A great Podcast and it will definitely keep you engaged through to the end.
8. The Shrink Next Door - Hosted By Joe Nocera for Wondery & Bloomberg.
Another wonderful Wondery Podcast, do they ever get it wrong?! The Shrink Next Door is the story of:
” … one therapist’s psychological manipulation as he crossed lines and defrauded his patients — and he’s still out there.” (Source here).
Host and journalist Joe Nocera returns to his summer house in the Hamptons to discover that his long time next door neighbour Ike, who was a “therapist to celebrities and Manhattan’s elite” is gone and a guy named Marty, who “worked for” Ike is living there instead. Joe quickly realises there is WAY more to this story than meets the eye and Marty was not just another employee and friend of Ike’s.
A really great Podcast with a story that has so many twists and turns!
9. American Jihadi - By Christof Putzel for Endeavor Content.
American Jihadi presents the story of Omar Hammami.
“Omar Hammami grew up a Southern Baptist in Alabama. He became one of the FBI’s most wanted Islamic terrorists.” (Source here).
In this Podcast, journalist Christof Putzel takes us along, while he chats to Omar (with whom he has developed a secret friendship), asks him some tough questions and attempts to learn more about Omar’s involvement with the Al-Shabaab Militant group.
I found this Podcast gripping and listened to all the episodes one after the other, so good!
10. Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia - Hosted By Rasha Pecoraro & Yvette Gentile - C13Originals Studio.
Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia is a in-depth investigation into the unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947. This investigation leads to a comprehensive dive into the Hodel family history. The head of the Hodel family was Dr. George Hodel and he was believed to be responsible for Elizabeth Shorts death.
“When Elizabeth Short, also known as The Black Dahlia, was brutally killed in 1947, it gripped the entire country. More than 70 years later, it remains America’s most infamous unsolved murder. Many believe Dr. George Hodel was the killer, thanks to an investigation by Hodel’s own son. But murder is just part of the Hodel family story, one filled with horrifying secrets that ripple across generations.” (Source here).
In the Podcast you hear from sisters Rasha Pecoraro and Yvette Gentile whom are the great grand-daughters of Dr. George Hodel as they try to connect the dots, explore their family history and figure out what really happened to Elizabeth Short.
11. Dessert Island Discs with Lauren Laverne for BBC Radio 4.
In each episode of the Dessert Island Discs Podcasts host Lauren Laverne chats to a famous guests and gets them to share “the soundtrack to their lives”, a total of eight tracks from which they later must choose just one to bring to their dessert island, along with a book of their choice and a luxury item.
Lauren’s voice is so soothing and she asks all the right, sometimes difficult questions to get her guests to open up to her. There is a huge back catalogue of episodes available so you will be spoiled for choice.
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