Scotland Yard Confidential
Spotify
When it comes to naming some of the world’s most famous detectives, most will talk of fictional sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot – but few will mention Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew or expert pathologist Dr Keith Simpson.
That could be about to change with Spotify’s latest original podcast, Scotland Yard Confidential, which “enters the minds” of real-life police officers and inspectors to discover how they cracked seemingly impossible cases, from historic missing persons mysteries to modern-day bank heists.
With each new episode, released weekly on Thursdays, narrator John Hopkins guides listeners through a variety of cases from London’s legendary criminal investigation departments, starting with The London Cellar Murder solved by Detective Dew in 1910.
When music hall singer Cora Crippen went missing for several months, her husband, Hawley Harvey Crippen, told friends and family she had died while visiting relatives abroad. Suspicious of the inconsistencies in his story, Dew led a search of Crippen’s coal cellar, where he made a ghastly discovery. Described as one of the greatest manhunts in British history, you’ll be gripped by the twists and turns, particularly as Scotland Yard Confidential tells tales in a unique way to other true crime storytellers.
Relying on dramatic narration rather than staightforward reporting, the show expertly paints a vivid picture of the events, surroundings and characters, resulting in what feels like a mash-up between an audio book and a traditional podcast.
If you want to “rub shoulders with notorious gangsters, sit down with informants, and come face to face with coldblooded murderers” then this series is not to be missed.