5 True Crime Podcasts Worth Listening To

#1

Disclosure Investigates: Killer on the Ward

Louise Shorter (presenter). Series editor Shelley Jofre; senior producer Kate Bissell (per BBC Media Centre)9/10

BBC Scotland’s Disclosure Investigates strand released Killer on the Ward as a complete series on BBC Sounds on Thursday 24 September 2026, after a four-minute trailer on 18 September. It is presented by Louise Shorter, who has led the charity Inside Justice since 2010 and who, according to the University of East Anglia, joined its law school as director of the Justice Project; UEA also describes her as the protagonist of the BBC Two series Conviction: Murder in Suburbia. In a BBC News article published alongside the podcast, Shorter writes that she became involved in the case in 2009, which is worth knowing before you press play. The strand’s earlier series include Dead Man Running, Hunting the Whisky Bandits and Matched with a Predator, which had a different presenter and won Best Serialised Podcast at the True Crime Awards 2026. The subject is Colin Norris, now known as Colin Campbell, convicted on 3 March 2008 of four murders and one attempted murder at Leeds hospitals after a five-month trial at Newcastle Crown Court, with 20 experts giving evidence. He received a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years. When the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred all five convictions to the Court of Appeal in February 2021, it described the case as “wholly circumstantial and heavily reliant on expert opinion evidence”. The court dismissed his appeals on 26 June 2025, saying it had “no doubt about the safety of any of the five convictions”. West Yorkshire Police say they remain convinced the convictions delivered justice. The series follows the appeal process and asks, in the BBC’s words, “were any murders committed at all?” That is the programme’s line of enquiry, not a finding by any court. Across eight episodes, from Patient Zero (28 min) and Operation Bevel (39 min) to The Appeal (50 min) and The Judgment (53 min), it reviews medical records, re-appraises witness statements and examines what the BBC calls “new science”. Episode one centres on Ethel Hall, and the BBC says her son believes there should have been a retrial. Norris’s mother, June Morrison, also appears, and the BBC’s blurb for episode four says a juror reveals doubts. What sets it apart is that it is finished, finite and includes dissenting voices from police and family. It suits listeners who want an in-order UK serial about how contested expert evidence was handled by the appeals system. It will not suit anyone who wants a settled verdict. A finished eight-part UK investigation, released in one go on 24 September, that you can hear over a weekend. Heading as written in newsletter: Disclosure Investigates: Killer on the Ward (BBC Scotland) Format: Eight-part investigative serial · listen in order · all episodes released together · 17–53 min each, about 4 h 30 min in total Content warnings: Deaths of elderly patients in hospital; alleged insulin poisoning; imprisonment; family grief and a mother’s distress; clinical medical detail. The BBC Sounds advisory for episode one says it “contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting”. Legal note: Colin Norris remains convicted. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on 26 June 2025 (Colin Campbell aka Norris v The King [2025] EWCA Crim 795), and on 23 September 2025 refused to certify a point of law for the Supreme Court (BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce32xp6yvx0o)). The BBC reports that an application has been made to the European Court of Human Rights; his solicitor says that step will take many years and the outcome is unknown. The suggestion that no murders took place is the series’ argument, not an established finding. Listen True Crime takes no view on guilt or innocence. Listen: BBC Sounds — Episode 1: Patient Zero (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0032jxk) · BBC Sounds — Killer on the Ward (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0032j9t) · Apple Podcasts — Disclosure Investigates (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/disclosure-investigates/id1741993276)

#2

Bone Valley

Season 6: Paul Solotaroff, with reporter Kathleen Horan9/10

Bone Valley is an investigative anthology from Lava for Good, made with Signal Co. No1 and described by Apple as coming from the fault lines of America’s justice system. Each season takes a different case, usually with a different host, in one feed. Gilbert King fronted Seasons 1 and 2, Maggie Freleng Season 3 (Graves County) and Beth Shelburne Season 4 (Earwitness), before Paul Solotaroff took Season 5, The Devil’s Quarry. Season 1, on the Leo Schofield case, won two 2023 Ambies: Best Documentary Podcast, and Best Reporting for King and Kelsey Decker. The New Yorker ranked the show fifth among its ten best podcasts of 2022, placing it in the tradition of In the Dark and Suspect. Lava for Good says an outside fact-checker and a law firm review every episode script; that is the show’s own statement. Season 6, The Devil’s Quarry II, premiered on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Episode 1, Chapter 1 | Remember Me, is in the feed, and a trailer has been there since 23 September. It goes back to Carmel, New York, where 17-year-old Robin Murphy was last seen at about 7.30 pm on 9 April 1995 in a shopping plaza on Route 52. The Charley Project, a missing-persons database, says her mother’s car was found near the plaza, her keys, wallet, purse and chequebook were found days later behind it, and investigators did not believe she had run away. The case is unsolved. The season’s official description says she was last seen with a convicted violent predator who was never charged in her disappearance, and that the original case file has been reopened, with new witnesses emerging and old evidence reconsidered. Those are the show’s statements. Apple’s description calls Solotaroff an award-winning investigative journalist and longtime contributing editor at Rolling Stone, and it frames Season 5 as “a horror story” and Season 6 as “a ghost story”. Season 5 dealt with a separate Carmel case, so listeners who like context may want to begin there. It suits listeners who like to follow a cold case from its first episode and are interested in how justice systems handle old cases. It is not for anyone who needs a resolved story. Season 6 began on Wednesday 30 September, and the show already carries an LTC verdict of Must listen. Heading as written in newsletter: Bone Valley — Season 6: The Devil’s Quarry II Format: Anthology across seasons; serial within each season · listen in order from Season 6 Episode 1 LTC’s published verdict: Must listen · published binge score 9/10 Content warnings: Murder; a missing teenager; alleged police failures; Season 5 material involves the death of a child. We have not yet checked Season 6’s own content advisories, so look at the episode notes before listening. Legal note: Robin Murphy’s disappearance is an unsolved missing-person case. The person she was reportedly last seen with has never been charged, and we do not name them. Treat any suggestion of who was responsible as the podcast’s line of inquiry, not fact. Season 1’s Leo Schofield was released on parole in April 2024 after 35 years; FOX 13 reported at the time that his attorneys were still seeking full exoneration. Whether Season 6 leads to any legal development is unknown. Listen: Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bone-valley/id1643974551) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZNyfZVK93493scltYssSf) LTC review: Bone Valley (https://www.listentruecrime.com/podcasts/bone-valley)

#3

British Murders with Stuart Blues

Stuart Blues7/10

British Murders is a UK true crime podcast presented by Yorkshireman Stuart Blues, who has made it since 2020. Its Apple description promises both headline-making investigations and lesser-known cases that deserve to be remembered, many suggested by listeners from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each numbered episode takes one case and looks at what happened, how it unfolded and the wider social, cultural and historical context, with victims, not offenders, placed at the centre of the story. Between cases, Blues also talks to journalists, authors, campaigners and criminal justice professionals about responsible true crime storytelling. Numbered episodes usually arrive weekly, sometimes more often. Episode 278, released on Sunday 27 September 2026, runs 34 minutes. In January 1993, 37-year-old Madallin Jones was found dead beside a stream near Hawarden, North Wales, after what first appeared to be a road accident. Her husband, Steven Jones, was a serving North Wales Police sergeant who had spent years investigating crime and training other officers, and who had been praised for an act of bravery days earlier. The episode covers her life and marriage, the investigation, the forensic evidence that challenged the first explanation, and the trial. The outcome is a matter of record: The Independent reported on 26 November 1993 that a Caernarfon Crown Court jury took three hours and 35 minutes to convict him, and that he was sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 November. The Independent also reported the then Chief Constable of North Wales as saying that he had been rightly convicted. The case was also covered in Crime+Investigation’s Murdertown, for anyone who wants a second telling. What sets the show apart from bigger-budget UK series is its regional reach, its stated victim-centred approach and its steady output. It suits listeners who want a self-contained case in about half an hour, who like to dip in by case rather than by season, and who are drawn to regional and historic stories. This episode is a closed case with a conviction, not an open mystery. A recent UK episode, from 27 September, from a steady regular show, as a contrast to the bigger-budget serials. Heading as written in newsletter: British Murders with Stuart Blues — Ep 278: The Police Sergeant’s Wife: The Murder of Madallin Jones Format: Solo-hosted anthology · one case per numbered episode, any order · recent episodes roughly 33–50 min LTC’s published verdict: “Good if you like true crime with a strong regional identity” · published binge score 7/10 Content warnings: Murder; domestic violence; a police officer as perpetrator; forensic detail. This is a real domestic homicide. Legal note: Historical case ending in a murder conviction in 1993; described here in the past tense, as reported at the time. Listen: Official site (https://www.britishmurders.com/) · Acast Ep 278 (https://shows.acast.com/british-murders-with-stuart-blues/episodes/madallinjones) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/british-murders-with-stuart-blues/id1539343828) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/42esV2DdEMonzmlgMSLCEm) LTC review: British Murders (https://www.listentruecrime.com/podcasts/british-murders-stuart-blues)

#4

Swindled

Anonymous, “A Concerned Citizen”8/10

Swindled tells true stories of white-collar criminals, con artists and corporate wrongdoing, from embezzlement and Ponzi schemes to environmental disasters and corporate negligence. The host is anonymous, goes by “A Concerned Citizen”, and the show calls itself a completely independent production built on narrative storytelling, archival audio and immersive soundscapes. Columbia Journalism Review’s Mike Laws wrote in June 2025 that it is “the funniest, most expansive, and certainly the most sui generis podcast to grace the genre”, and noted the host’s “hypnotic monotone”. Every episode ends with a PO box for postcards, “but please, no packages. We do not trust you.” Some Apple listeners find the flat delivery wearing, so it is a matter of taste. Episode 143, The New Formula, was released on Thursday 10 September 2026. The official description says a nationwide infant formula shortage “reveals the ugly truth about the industry and the multinational corporation at its center”, with a prelude on a formula start-up linked to a botulism outbreak. Each episode opens with a prelude, a shorter linked story; here it concerns ByHeart. The episode page lists 297 source links, including AP, Reuters, the CDC, the FDA, ProPublica and court and regulatory documents. Independent background, which we have not matched against the episode: the CDC counts 28 confirmed and 20 probable infant botulism cases linked to ByHeart formula, with onset between December 2023 and November 2025, and all of its products were recalled. No deaths were reported in that outbreak, and the CDC declared it over in February 2026. The feed mixes new main episodes with reruns and bonuses; a rerun of The Creamery, on Blue Bell, around 24 September was originally published in August 2022. It suits listeners who want long-form business and regulatory stories rather than homicide and who enjoy a dry, deadpan narrator. It may not suit anyone who would find infant illness upsetting. A break from homicide: an institutional-failure story told carefully, from a show that is still releasing. Heading as written in newsletter: Swindled — Ep 143: The New Formula Format: Anthology · standalone episodes, any order LTC’s published verdict: Must listen · published binge score 6/10 Content warnings: Infant illness linked to consumer products (botulism outbreak and formula contamination in Ep 143); corporate harm; financial ruin and environmental disaster across the catalogue; dark humour about real victims of institutional failure. Legal note: Outbreak links, lawsuits and regulatory findings discussed in Ep 143 and above are as reported. We make no claim of corporate wrongdoing beyond named court or regulatory findings. Listen: Episode 143: The New Formula (https://swindledpodcast.com/podcast/143-the-new-formula/) · Official site (https://swindledpodcast.com/) · Episodes (https://swindledpodcast.com/episodes/) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/swindled/id1308717668) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/2G5o4eDDl8dg4ONVTVlEmq) LTC review: Swindled (https://www.listentruecrime.com/podcasts/swindled)

#5

Something Was Wrong

Tiffany Reese (Broken Cycle Media)8/10

Something Was Wrong describes itself on Apple as an award-winning docuseries about survivors’ discovery, trauma and recovery from crime and abuse. Tiffany Reese, whom her website describes as a Northern California documentarian, survivor advocate and author of Everything Sucks (2019) and Strong Women Rising (2020), hosts it through her company Broken Cycle Media, which calls itself survivor-led and victim-centred. According to the show’s website it launched in January 2019 and won the 2019 Iris Award for Podcast of the Year; the same page lists nominations for Best Crime Podcast at the iHeartPodcast Awards in 2024 and 2025 and a 2025 Webby nomination. Apple currently lists more than 400 episodes across 26 seasons. Each season is a separate story told in chapters. Season 26 opens with five episodes of about 51 to 60 minutes each: Obey, He Underestimated My Healing, Hit Him with a Trifecta, So Help You God and A Restoration. The episode source lists cite a Virginia court case in which, WSET reported, a former pastor was convicted in March 2025 of two counts of burglary and one of stalking and sentenced to 11 years, all but four months suspended. Two interviews of about 50 minutes follow, with psychologists Dr Marisa G. Franco and Dr Rebecca Schwartz-Mette on friendship and betrayal. The episode we are pointing to is Season 26, Episode 15, WCN Presents: [Jenn Holman] There is a Softer Life, posted on Thursday 24 September 2026. The official description introduces Jenn Holman as a survivor, mother and “faithful family woman” living in Idaho by way of Southern California. Her path crossed Amy Chesler’s more than eighteen years ago, when she began dating Amy’s brother. The description says that relationship began a year and a few months before the murder of Amy’s mother, that it connects back to Season 7, and that Amy learned more about that night through the conversation. What marks the show out is its scope: coercion, stalking, betrayal and recovery rather than case-solving. Every episode description opens with a content-warning list and a link to free, confidential resources, and the notes publish sources such as court records, news and academic references. Apple listeners are divided, with some praising the factual context before each story and others criticising long solo introductions, long ad reads and the tone of recent seasons. The episodes are long and emotionally heavy. For newcomers, the start of a chapter is a safer way in than a Presents interview, because Episode 15 refers back to Season 7. A new episode arrived on 24 September, and the show covers psychological harm rather than murder. Heading as written in newsletter: Something Was Wrong — Season 26 Format: Each season is a separate story told in chapters · listen in order within a chapter; some “Presents” episodes are interviews · more than 400 episodes across 26 seasons (Apple) LTC’s published verdict: Must listen · published binge score 7/10 Content warnings: High. Domestic and intimate-partner violence; sexual violence and rape; stalking and harassment; breaking and entering; religious abuse; fire (Ep 5); murder of a family member (Ep 15 description); friendship betrayal; and, in the Chapter 2 preview, fraud, factitious disorder, false pregnancy and pregnancy loss. Support: somethingwaswrong.com/resources (https://somethingwaswrong.com/resources) Legal note: Survivors’ accounts are presented as their experience; corroboration varies by episode. Episode 15’s description refers to a murder but gives no court outcome, and we assert none. Where the show cites court records, only outcomes established in those records are treated as fact. We do not name anyone convicted in this issue’s copy and do not describe anyone as convicted without a sourced conviction. Listen: Official site (https://somethingwaswrong.com/) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/something-was-wrong/id1447286743) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3GptGES42jdzOygpz7Qvf8) LTC review: Something Was Wrong (https://www.listentruecrime.com/podcasts/something-was-wrong)