‘Serial meets Twin Peaks’ in a true crime tale from Adam Buxton

The comedian bridges the gap between truth and fiction in Up in Smoke. Plus: five of the best podcasts with shocking twists

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Have you been glued to Wondery’s latest true crime pod, Kill List?

Tech journalist Carl Miller discovered a list of names on the dark web, which he learned was a murder-for-hire site. It turned out to be a money-making scam, but the people who paid up were deadly serious about getting rid of their targets – “Tell me the execution time in advance – I can’t be there,” was just one instruction found. In the podcast, Miller tracks down people on the hitlist and tries to get the authorities to take the risks to their lives seriously.

The show was one of our recommendations earlier this month and has become a word of mouth hit. But what is it that makes this podcast more than just another wild story compellingly told?

Most of the cases were men targeting women, Miller tells listeners, adding: “I think it says something about modern masculinity and what happens when people do lose control of a partner, and then lose control of themselves.” The most horrifying discovery is that, after her name appeared on the list, one woman’s suicide was faked by her husband. In his Observer column, John Naughton said the case “provides a graphic reminder of how the internet holds up a mirror to human nature” – particularly to “horrendous torrents of misogyny”.

You can hear Miller talk about this and what it’s like calling people to tell them, “Hey, somebody’s trying to kill you,” in this interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, there are plenty more gripping series to get stuck into this week: Adam Buxton’s exciting new “Serial meets Twin Peaks” pod is finally here, Will Sharpe tells a twisty true story about reincarnation, and Alexis Bledel speaks with the survivor of a kidnap. And if you’re looking for a dangerously thrilling listen, read on for our best podcasts with shocking twists.
Hollie Richardson
Assistant TV editor

Picks of the week

Up in Smoke
Widely available, episodes weekly
Adam Buxton’s new podcast is billed as Serial meets Twin Peaks, bridging the gap between fiction and true crime. Mei Mac is Kay McAllister, an ex-tabloid journalist who launches her own pod to find out what happened to a missing man. Buxton takes a low-key role as DCI Roy Burgess, who worked on the case. It’s told in a true-crime style but there is no mistaking this is glossy, high-quality fiction – an engaging, slow-burning tale. Hannah Verdier

The Burden: Avenger
Widely available, episodes weekly
When Miriam Lewin was 19 she was kidnapped on the streets of Buenos Aires and tortured for her political beliefs. But she survived, became a journalist and went on to bring the perpetrators to justice. Now The Handmaid’s Tale’s Alexis Bledel tells Lewin’s powerful story, based on detailed interviews. HV

The Madman’s Hotel
Audible, all episodes out now
Niall Breslin grew up in the shadow of one of Ireland’s “lunatic asylums” and has been haunted by it ever since. But when he meets Julie Clarke, whose great grandmother was imprisoned in St Loman’s hospital until her death, he uncovers a story of mistreatment even more horrific than he imagined. HV

My So-Called Midlife
Widely available, episodes weekly
“You’ve read All Fours, right?” asks Reshma Saujani as she introduces her podcast. “Where’s my hotel room?” If that doesn’t get her target audience nodding along, the wisdom of her first guest will. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (above) is as fabulous as ever, talking about midlife ups and downs, including the joy of posing naked for Rolling Stone. HV

Extrasensory
Apple Podcasts, all episodes out on Monday for Apple TV+ subscribers
If you were glued to last year’s Ghost Story, here is another twisty investigation into an eerie old family secret – this time with questions of reincarnation. Will Sharpe speaks to a woman who was related to two young girls killed by a car on their way to church in the 1950s. But after their father says they will be reborn, his wife gives birth to twin girls … Hollie Richardson

There’s a podcast for that

This week, Ammar Kalia chooses five of the best podcasts with shocking twists, from cold case murders to a traumatic tale of catfishing
Sweet Bobby
Falling in love isn’t always a straightforward experience but for Kirat Assi, the subject of this riveting series from Tortoise, finding a romantic partner ended up being far more traumatic than it should have. Tracing Kirat’s romance from its initial online connection to the shocking revelation of the real identity of the person she had been falling for over the course of nine years, Sweet Bobby takes a true-crime investigative approach to a catfishing tale that exposes not only Kirat’s crush but also the vast pitfalls of meeting someone on the internet. With a Netflix docuseries out now, it’s worth listening to the original before its twists become common knowledge.

S-Town
It’s an unusual turn of events when the source for a series suddenly becomes its subject but such is the case with the wildly popular 2017 show S-Town. Produced by the team behind Serial, the podcast begins with John B, a local resident of the Alabama town Woodstock, contacting host Brian Reed to investigate an alleged historic local murder. Yet, after a series of unexpected segues and a genuinely distressing revelation at the end of episode two, S-Town soon turns its gaze on to the story of John B himself – an antique clock restorer and lonesome figure embodying the Southern gothic in a place he always refers to as “Shittown.”

Firebug
Treading the line between fact and fiction, this riveting series begins with the discovery of a novel manuscript titled Points of Origin, which contains within its narrative an account of a series of arson attacks that reads suspiciously similar to a series of unsolved real life fires that swept through southern California in the 1980s. Featuring interviews with the police investigators and dozens of first-hand witnesses, the true crime-cum-audio drama podcast pieces together the connections between the author of the novel and the arson attacks before arriving at a dramatic twist to reveal the real nature of the crimes.

Bone Valley
True crime often promises a twist will reveal the culprit of the horrifying cold case, only to fall frustratingly short of delivering any truly new information. Journalist Gilbert King’s Bone Valley series puts those shows to shame. Tipped off by a judge that a 1980s murder case was a miscarriage of justice, King and his assistant reporter Kelsey Decker spend four years meticulously investigating court transcripts and police documents to end up solving not only the murder but another cold case in the process too.

The Shrink Next Door
The Apple TV+ adaptation of this curious series, starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, might not have left much of a mark, but the original still stands as a fascinating study into human psychology and the ways that we might come to trust those who otherwise seem deeply suspicious. Ostensibly telling the story of celebrity psychiatrist Dr Ike Herschkopf and his glamorous lifestyle, the series soon evolves into an examination of the intense relationship between Herschkopf and his neighbour and patient Marty. It’s a boundary-crossing friendship that only leads to a revelation about its truth almost 30 years after the pair first met.

Why not try …

We Need to Talk, where matchmaker Paul C Brunson and guests share their tips on forging deeper connections, not just with others but also with yourself.

The strange tale of how several former American football players got sucked in to an extreme religious group, in Spiraled.

How to Do Everything, in which underqualified hosts find overqualified experts to answer your burning (and often absurd) life questions.