Podcasts Like RedHanded: Where to Go Next

RedHanded's specific trick is treating a case as more than the crime itself — Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala consistently ask what a case reveals about power, gender, or institutional failure, not just what happened and to whom. It's earned the show the British Podcast Awards Listeners' Choice three years straight, and it's rated Must listen here. If that analytical layer is what keeps you coming back, here's what else does something similar — and one honest example of a show that reaches for the same thing without quite landing it.

For the international reach, with a caveat

Rotten Mango, hosted by Stephanie Soo, is the closest match to RedHanded's willingness to go beyond domestic cases — it focuses specifically on crimes from Thailand, South Korea, and Japan that rarely get Western coverage, which is a genuinely valuable gap to fill. It's worth being upfront about the tradeoff, though: our own review of the show notes it's "highly dramatized" and "emphasizes atmosphere over rigorous sourcing," which is a real difference from RedHanded's more source-conscious, analytical approach. If international case selection is what you're after, Rotten Mango delivers it. If it's RedHanded's rigor you want alongside that reach, treat Rotten Mango's claims with a bit more scepticism than you would RedHanded's.

For the friendship, without the analysis

Wine and Crime trades RedHanded's cultural critique for something warmer and more social: three Minneapolis friends — Lucy, Amanda, and Kenyon — talking through a case over wine pairings every week. It's less interested in what a case says about power structures and more interested in making you feel like you're at the table with them. If RedHanded's appeal for you was really about the friendship dynamic between two hosts rather than the analysis itself, this is a gentler, funnier version of that same feeling.

An honest example of the idea done less carefully

Crime Weekly with Sheryl McCollum is worth mentioning precisely because it aims at something adjacent to RedHanded — bringing outside expertise (McCollum is a working forensic scientist) to bear on cases rather than just retelling them — and doesn't fully deliver on it. Our own review is blunt about this: "the format doesn't always use that advantage as effectively as it should," and the show "can feel repetitive." We're including it here not as a strong recommendation but as a useful contrast: it shows what RedHanded's format looks like when the expert lens doesn't get fully put to work.

Where to start

If it's the analytical lens you want more of, stick with RedHanded's own back catalogue before branching out — few shows replicate it precisely. If it's specifically the international case selection, Rotten Mango is the closest thing, with the sourcing caveat firmly in mind.

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