10 episodes
mortem BBC Sounds
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- True Crime
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4.5 • 131 Ratings
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A curious mortician. Determined forensic scientists. And one suspicious death.
Welcome to Carla Valentine’s mortuary. A chilled, white, windowless room, where you cross the threshold into the world of the dead. From the first cut, to the final stitch, Carla examines how each body got to her slab. But it’s forensic science that joins the dots, as we venture to the scene of the crime and join the scientists on the frontline.
Each case, told over three episodes, tells the story of one body, through the sciences you may have never heard in detail before.
The victim is fictional. But the science is real. Based on true crime investigations.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
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9. The Absent Smile: Chapter Three
When a man died on a hillside, nobody knew who he was.
But a local journalist was determined to find out.
This was somebody’s son, somebody’s friend. Someone must be missing him.
The eyes are the window to the soul. But the teeth hold many secrets. Could Caroline Wilkinson’s facial reconstruction be key to solving the case?
This episode includes references to death, decay and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Liam: Jamie Quinn
Producer: Nina Kruse
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Kate Holland, Mend Mariwany -
8. The Absent Smile: Chapter Two
Fresh, Bloat, Active Decay, Advanced Decay and Dry Remains. There’s a rhythm and a pattern to decomposition.
This body, found on a hillside, is in Active Decay. Flies are swarming, maggots wriggling.
But could these unseen undertakers of the insect world tell us more about how long the body had been there?
Forensic entomologist Clive Warsop and Forensic Odontologist Scheila Manica continue their investigations.
This episode includes references to death, decay and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Liam: Jamie Quinn
Producer: Nina Kruse
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Kate Holland, Mend Mariwany -
7. The Absent Smile: Chapter One
For Carla Valentine, the mortuary has always been her place of sanctuary. The constant cold, the passing through of bodies, it can be a predictably ordered place.
But sometimes, something a little different happens.
A human jawbone, washed up on a shore near Dundee, has the locals in a state of confusion and concern. And the mortician eager to know more.
Whose jawbone was it? And where was the rest of them? While forensic dentist Scheila Manica examines the jawbone for clues, the police call in forensic entomologist Clive Warsop to help them with another gruesome discovery.
This episode includes references to death, decay and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Liam: Jamie Quinn
Producer: Nina Kruse
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Kate Holland, Mend Mariwany -
6. Blood Lines: Chapter Three
One elderly victim. Two weapons. But only one person in custody.
When Margaret Thompson was killed, it felt like an open and shut case. But new evidence suggests the key suspect didn’t do it alone.
A killer could still be out there.
So why’s Professor Ruth Morgan taking a casual walk in the park?
This episode includes references to death, violence and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Producer: Kate Holland
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Nina Kruse, Mend Mariwany -
5. Blood Lines: Chapter Two
In the mortuary, Carla Valentine has been asked to remove a crucial clue from Mrs Thompson’s body. A section of her damaged skull.
Because there could be more to these fatal injuries than meets the eye.
And to see them in all their minutiae, could reveal that the devil truly is in the detail. Enter engineer Professor Mark Williams.
This episode includes references to death, violence and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Producer: Kate Holland
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Nina Kruse, Mend Mariwany -
4. Blood Lines: Chapter One
When Mrs Thompson said goodbye to her handyman, she knew he’d come back the next day.
And he did. But she was lying in a pool of her own blood, dead on the kitchen floor.
Or at least, that’s what he told the police.
Could Jo Millington's bloodstain pattern analysis help piece together Margaret's final moments?
This episode includes references to death, violence and dissection, which some listeners may find distressing. Our victim is fictional, but the science and the scientists are very real.
A Whistledown production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Carla Valentine
George the Pathologist: Matt Addis
The Voice: Jude Akuwudike
Producer: Kate Holland
Co-Producer and Sound Designer: Steve Bond
Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Writer: Nina Millns
Script Editor: David K. Barnes
Original Music: Aaron May
Vocals: Alyssa
Production Team: Nina Kruse, Mend Mariwany
Customer Reviews
Tad overdone, but fascinating
Edited to add: I miss this podcast and would like series 2!
I love this subject, and the experts and Carla herself are brilliantly knowledgeable and passionate. But I do have one big gripe, and that is that it’s over dramatic.
For one, it’s comes across as slightly disrespectful to the victims (I realise they’re fictional, but it’s weird to revel in, say, an old lady being beaten), but also really detracts from the rest of the content. Feels like a lowest common denominator attempt to make a subject interesting, when it already is. In addition, it makes me unnecessarily jumpy whenever I listen to it, which is quite off-putting. Can only listen in the daytime somewhere I feel ok, and even then it’s seems like a stupid barrier to have to cross to listen to a podcast I otherwise adore.
Could have been interesting if …
… the narrator at the beginning of the first episode didn’t say: “The victim is fictional”. Yet the description of the show says it “takes you from the mortuary to the scene of a crime to find out how a body got to her slab”. It obviously doesn’t. Is it just me, or is that complete and utter nonsense if ‘the victim is fictional’? A promising premise that isn’t delivered on.
Incredibly interesting, wish it’d continued
Pretty much said everything I wanted to say in the title, it was really interesting and I’m sad that there aren’t more episodes.