If TV is anything to go by, Brits are obsessed with crime dramas. Whether you’re into Scandinoir, Midsomer Murders, Line of Duty or Luther, most of us like to think we’re pretty savvy when it comes to solving a case.
It’s easy to feel like a super-sleuth when everything’s neatly laid out on screen but real life is messier and there’s much more at stake. If you think you can transfer your suspicions from Wallander to the real world then Serial is the podcast for you.
Serial started in 2014 and took the world by storm, winning a Peabody award, breaking download records and topping iTunes before the podcast had even begun. It’s not hard to see why: Serial dives deep into a real-life crime to see whether the case should really be considered closed. The episodes range from half an hour to an hour with presenter Sarah Koenig weaving a compelling true tale over the course of 12 episodes.
Season 1
Hae Min Lee (left) was an 18-year-old Baltimore student who disappeared on January 13 1999. She was found almost a month later strangled in a nearby park. Lee’s ex Adnan Masud Syed was arrested and charged with her murder. Syed pleaded innocent throughout but was found guilty and began his life sentence in 2000.
Syed’s pleas of innocence and several inconsistencies in the investigation caught Koenig’s attention. She learns alongside her listeners, having no clue each week how the next episode will unravel. Koenig follows up dormant leads and alibis and interviews those involved, talking to Syed in his prison cell. The series doesn’t just look into the backstory of the major players but key witnesses and friends too, uncovering troubling facts about their relationships with Syed. As the investigation reaches a crescendo it’s clear there may be more than just iTunes ratings at stake.
Season 2
On the night of June 30, 2009 Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl (left) disappeared from his battalion in Afghanistan. The accounts of what happened differ wildly, with some saying that he simply walked away, others that he was grabbed. Emails to his parents suggest he was hiking to a command centre to report problems concerning his base leader and the way US soldiers were treating Afghan citizens. Regardless, he was taken prisoner by the Taliban and held captive for five years. When he was released in May 2014 in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay Taliban prisoners, Bergdahl was court-martialled and charged with desertion.
Mark Boal, Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, came to Koenig with footage and interviews with Bergdahl that had formed his research and production of both films. Koenig listened to what he had and she was “blown away”. The second series of Serial finally had a story as gripping as the first, with international repercussions.
Series 3
After the extraordinary success of the first two series, Serial announced that the third season would arrive mid-2017. It’s been over a year since the last series finished and fans are desperate for the next investigation. Koenig manages to reel you in and keep you gripped, so it’s hard to get Serial out of your head long after it’s done.
The podcast has inspired a generation of amateur investigators to the extent that the producer had to beg listeners to restrain themselves from revealing contact details and witness identities from the first series murder.
It’s also been called an ethical minefield due to its involvement with high-profile cases, its invasive nature and its after-effects but that has just encouraged listeners. There may not be any information about the next storyline as yet but it’s set to be as popular as the previous two.
To get your inner Sherlock spellbound before the long-awaited third instalment, find Serial here or on your podcast app.
by Jo Davey
The post Serial: A Cracking Podcast for Your Commute appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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