Penny’s Winter Picks

This investigative series from The Wall Street Journal, dives into an extensive array of internal Facebook documents, giving an unparalleled look inside the social media giant. Do the documents show that Facebook knows it’s causing harm but time and again hasn’t fixed it? This series offers new details about Facebook’s algorithm, how criminals use the platform for human trafficking and how Instagram affects mental health.

6 Episodes.

It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall just fell. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. And the soundtrack to the revolution is one of the best selling songs of all time, the metal ballad “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions. Decades later, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumour: the song wasn’t written by the Scorpions. It was written by the CIA. This is his journey to find the truth.

8 Episodes

They have the perfect relationship, until one day he vanishes. Her hunt leads to other women just like her and a web of state-spun lies. Cara McGoogan investigates one of Britain’s biggest secrets and talks to the women who unwittingly formed relationships with undercover policemen. Click here to see other recommended Investigative Reporting Podcasts.

7 Episodes

A famous Irish Olympic swimming coach charged with multiple accounts of child sexual abuse never stood trial. Instead, he vanished. Reporter Mark Horgan travels across Ireland, the UK and the US on his trail.

10 Episodes

In West Cork, it’s simply known as ‘the murder’. In 1996 French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier is found dead near her holiday home. There are no witnesses and no known motive. The police suspect one man in this community but they can’t make a charge stick and he refuses to leave, living under the glare of suspicion ever since.

13 Episodes

Dr Ruja Ignatova called herself the Cryptoqueen. She told people she had invented a cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin, and persuaded them to invest billions. Then she disappeared. Jamie Bartlett spent months investigating how she did it for the Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, and trying to figure out where she’s hiding. He presents a story of greed, deceit and herd madness.

9 Episodes

The fertility doctor Jan Karbaat was renowned for getting amazing results. Women who were desperate for children would visit him at his Rotterdam clinic, and many would leave pregnant. But when the clinic closed, rumours circulated about the methods Karbaat used to achieve his success. The Immaculate Deception is a story about a doctor who was determined to create life – by any means possible. Reported and hosted by Jenny Kleeman.

7 Episodes

Peta and Chris are in paradise – they sail into hell. Why does it take 38 years to arrest the only suspect: Silas Duane Boston? A BBC 5 Live podcast investigating their murders. Winner of Best True Crime Podcast 2020, British Podcast Awards.

11 Episodes