HAVE YOU HEARD? // RedHanded

Have You Heard? is a series in which the team from Pod Bible meet the people behind the podcasts you may not have heard of yet. While the Oh. My. Pod. section in the magazine gives a quick shout out to shows of that ilk, Have You Heard aims to go deeper in an effort to spread awareness for shows that deserve more exposure! In this third edition we sat down with Hannah and Suruthi from RedHanded…

Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

We are Hannah and Suruthi, a couple of twentysomethings who met at a party, got drunk and decided to start a murder podcast. Hannah used to be a theatre administrator and Suruthi was a conference producer, but now we are both working full time on our podcast; RedHanded. RedHanded is a true crime podcast full of wit, murder and WTFs. With academic backgrounds in Social Anthropology and Economics our show was always going to be detail and research-oriented – but with stories galore about hitchhiking, what not to talk about on dates and micro-pigs this show was never going to be ‘just the facts’. RedHanded focuses on the often ignored societal, economic, political and psychological circumstances the precipitate and surround crime, but don’t worry you’ll still feel like you’re just doing the pub with your mates.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Hannah: Mine was ‘This American Life’, I listened to audiobooks constantly as a kid and a lot of the ones I used to listen to are on Youtube. When I was living in Korea I got homesick so I put one on while cleaning my flat. ‘This American Life’ was next on the autoplay. After that I was listening to podcasts 24/7. I still can’t totally believe that they are free and how many of them there are.

Suruthi: I went travelling for a year and I spent most of it solo, I was desperate for something to listen to after I’d exhausted my music playlists, and the first podcast I really bonded with was a Game of Thrones podcast called ‘The History of Westeros”. I’d just finished binging the show before I left for my trip so it was great to settle into a 27 hour bus journey across South America and listen to hours of random Westeros chat.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

We met at a party at Hannah’s house two and a half years ago and we realised that amazingly we both listened to the same true crime podcasts. Pretty soon into the evening we were shouting our opinions on the JonBenet Ramsey case over the dinner table, much to the annoyance of the other guests. But after the appropriate amount of wine had been drunk we decided to start our own true crime podcast, and unbelievably we actually did. It started as a hobby, turned into a passion project and now it’s our full time career and we couldn’t be happier – which just goes to show, you should always do what you say you are going to when you are drunk.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

‘The Dropout’ and ‘Root of Evil’ are both incredible serialised true crime podcasts.

We are working on releasing a long form podcast of our own so we are taking all the pointers we can from them.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

 There are definitely people who have been involved in cases that we’ve covered that we would love to meet, if nothing else than because even hours and hours of research in we have no idea if they “did it” or not. One case, and one person in particular really stands out.

Darlie Routier was just 26 in 1996 when she was arrested for the murder of her son, Damon. She claimed that someone had broken into her house and stabbed 2 of her sons to death, she too has sustained injuries but nothing like the fatal stab wounds her sons suffered.

But it wasn’t just her injuries, or lack thereof, that makes this case a mystery, it’s all the evidence and how half of it points to an intruder.

And of course it was Darlie herself, her behaviour in the weeks following the murders that raised a nation’s collective eyebrows into the stratosphere. Darlie has been on death row for almost 30 years and either she is a cold blooded killer, or the victim of a devastating injustice. I don’t think we would find out which by meeting her, but after the hours we spent with her case we’d like to try to get a little closer to understanding her story. You can check out her case on episode 72 of RedHanded.

Failing that Idris Elba get that Luther coat on and you are welcome any time.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Don’t accidentally lock yourself in the cupboard under the stairs, in search of better sound quality on the hottest day of the year for 3 hours. Your housemates will be really unimpressed when they have to get across London to let you out.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

Episode 100 – Cannibal Cop: Gilberto Valle – In this episode we discuss how much thinking you can do about committing a crime before it becomes a conspiracy.

In 2012 Kathleen Valle started to become suspicious of her New York City police officer husband Gilberto. He was spending all of his time on the computer, and Kathleen, who had just had their baby was afraid he was being unfaithful. When she finally broke and checked his online activity. What she found was far more horrifying than anything she had imagined. Gilberto Valle had been on cannibal fetish forums talking to strangers about how he wanted to abduct, rape and torture women – including Kathleen. In the trial; and the media frenzy that followed – the question became; when does a thought become a crime?

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

They can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @redhandedthepod or join our Facebook group.

Listen to RedHanded now on Acast!