Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Robert Murphy

A podcast about crime - both real and fictitious # WINNER: Outstanding Indie Podcast @ True Crime Awards 2024 # Crime is one of the biggest genres in books and on TV: both true crime and fiction. Why? What makes a criminal? What drives a person to ignore the laws and conventions of normal society and pushes them to perform truly dark acts? Sex? Money? Revenge? Love? Humiliation? And why do so many creative people drawn to crime as a fertile ground for stories? Award-winning TV crime correspondent Robert Murphy speaks with writers, directors, police and experts about their work. Which true crimes inspired some of our favourite books, shows and films? And why do we as a society find crime so compelling? In this series, Rob speaks with creatives including Lee Child, David Baldacci, Lynda La Plante, Jackie Kabler, Mark Gatiss, George Kay and many, many others about their true crime inspiration. For video interviews, evidence from each case, articles and more, go to https://robertmurphy.substack.com/about robertmurphy.substack.com

  1. Val McDermid: The Stories Too Dark for Fiction

    3 DAYS AGO

    Val McDermid: The Stories Too Dark for Fiction

    Val McDermid is one of the world’s most celebrated crime writers. She’s sold more than 20 million books with her series which include Karen Pirie, Tony Hill and Kate Brannigan. But before becoming a literary powerhouse, she spent years as a newspaper journalist covering some of Britain’s most notorious cases. Subscribe for FREE: robertmurphy.substack.com In this episode of Behind the Crimes, Val reflects on her path from newsroom reporter to bestselling novelist. Val speaks candidly about her years in journalism, which included covering stories such as Lockerbie, Hillsborough and the Peter Sutcliffe investigation. She describes the emotional toll of witnessing tragedy at close quarters and the difficult balance reporters must strike between empathy and professional distance. Her reflections offer a fascinating insight into what crime reporting was like in Britain during the 1970s and 80s. The conversation also explores how those experiences shaped her fiction. Val explains why she avoids directly “ripping stories from the headlines”, arguing that real cases carry consequences for victims, families and even ongoing investigations. We discuss her latest novel, Silent Bones, the newest instalment in the Karen Pirie series. Val reveals how the story emerged from an unusual book club, Scottish political history, and her long fascination with cold cases. She also shares her thoughts on pacing, plotting and how she builds the intricate multi-strand narratives that have become her trademark. As always with Val McDermid, forensics is never far away. She talks about her deep friendships with leading scientists, the research behind her acclaimed non-fiction book Forensics, and some of the real-life cases and scientific discoveries that have most fascinated her over the years. https://www.valmcdermid.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    47 min

  2. 22 APR

    Anthony Horowitz: Murder is a fast way to become interested in people.

    Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com Anthony Horowitz may be best-known for his Alex Rider hit novels. But as a writer of adult crime fiction he has a unique and distinguished career. He was the first author entrusted by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle to reimagine Sherlock Holmes for a new book. And then he wrote three official James Bond novels. But his own inventions as an author and a screenwriter have now become parts of our cultural life: Foyle’s War, the Susan Ryeland books and TV shows and the Hawthorne and Horowitz series. Anthony also wrote on Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie’s Poirot. He started working in advertising while writing books into the early hours. And his big break came in the mid-1980s when, after publishing a children’s book about Robin Hood, he was asked to write for the biggest TV show in Britain at that time. In this episode, Anthony breaks down what parts of crime writing he enjoys - and tries to avoid. And he describes the honour and pressure which came from being entrusted with two of crime writing’s most important literary estates. His latest book, A Deadly Episode, will be released tomorrow. You can discover more about Anthony here: anthonyhorowitz.com or @anthonyhorowitz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    57 min

  3. 9 APR

    David Baldacci: The real crimes which inspired his fiction

    Subscribe for free: Robertmurphy.substack.com David Baldacci was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1960. What was it like growing up amidst the legacy of the Jim Crow laws? How did becoming a Washington lawyer finesse his storytelling skills? And how did he write his breakout debut Absolute Power while working 90-hour weeks as a litigator? David has written more than 60 books in the last three decades and has become one of the world’s best-selling crime-writers. His latest novel, Hope Rises, is the second part of David’s Walter Nash series. It tells how an everyday businessman seeks revenge after being plunged into the dark world of organised crime and security agencies. In this conversation we speak about David’s inspiration from true crime, his literary heroes… and about his hometown hotel which had alligators in the reception. You can learn more about David here: https://www.davidbaldacci.com/ You can grab a copy of Hope Rises here in the UK. And here in the USA. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    52 min

  4. 22 MAR

    Gone - the series finale: Director Richard Laxton

    Subscribe for FREE: robertmurphy.substack.comRichard Laxton discusses how he directed the ITV drama Gone.Why did he want to tackle the subjects of male repression and coercive control?What strengths did the lead actors Eve Myles and David Morrissey bring to the show? And how did his experience as a young gay man who didn’t come out until he was 21 inform this drama about an institution which has a public and private face?Richard also discusses his previous crime series including, Joan, Honour and The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe? If you enjoyed this episode, we have much more about the hit ITV drama in the last two episodes: The writer: In this episode series creator George Kay describes which true crimes influenced his writing - and his career more widely, including the hit shows Hijack, The Long Shadow and Lupin. The inspiration: Former detective Julie Mackay led the team which solved the 30-year-old murder of the teenager Melanie Road. In this episode, she describes what it was like starting her policing career in the 1980s and 1990s, juggling being a detective with being a mother and solving a high-profile cold case. If you want to learn more about the award-winning book, To Hunt a Killer, which Julie and I wrote - about that inquiry - you can grab a copy here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    47 min

  5. 15 MAR

    ITV's Gone: Screenwriter George Kay and the crimes that shaped a drama

    Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com How - and why - did celebrated screenwriter George Kay take a true crime story and create a tense, claustrophobic thriller set in an English private school? ‘Gone’ stars Eve Myles as overlooked detective sergeant Annie Cassidy brought in to investigate the disappearance of the wife of domineering headmaster Michael Polly (David Morrissey.) In this interview, George describes how he was inspired by the detective Julie Mackay (last week’s episode) and her book To Hunt a Killer. But the series was influenced by two other real-life investigations. George speaks about how he moved from writing episodic scripts for Killing Eve and other series to becoming one of the UK’s most bankable and acclaimed drama showrunners. And he touches on some of the big themes raised in Gone: masculinity and how some institutions fail to nurture generations of boys. George has featured in two previous episodes of Behind the Crimes. He talked about how he created The Long Shadow, about the crimes of Peter Sutcliffe: And of his previously unknown connection to the Lord Lucan nanny who evaded the murderous earl: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    43 min

  6. 8 MAR

    Julie Mackay: The real-life inspiration behind the ITV drama 'Gone'

    Julie Mackay is the former detective superintendent who led the inquiry into the cold case of Melanie Road. For more than three decades, the killer of the 17-year-old schoolgirl evaded justice. For the final seven years, this inquiry was led by Julie Mackay at Avon & Somerset Police. Julie and I wrote To Hunt a Killer - an award-winning book about her tireless hunt for the murderer. The book was optioned by New Pictures, the creators of Gone. Screenwriter George Kay created a fictional world, using the book as inspiration, rather than making a straight adaptation. Gone centres on the domineering headmaster Michael Polly (David Morrissey) whose wife Sarah vanishes from his prestigious West Country school. Det Sgt Annie Cassidy (Eve Myles) is brought in to find her. Instead of being allowed to lead the hunt, she’s sidelined as the Family Liaison Officer. But her new position gives her unique access to the Polly family home. And the more she sees of this dogmatic, repressed and powerful man, the more she questions whether he was responsible for his wife’s vanishing. In this podcast episode, Julie describes starting as the sole woman on her police team, what it was like to work undercover, to have a loaded sawn-off shotgun pointed at her head, reflects on the challenges of the Melanie Road inquiry, and what it was like to run a team of nearly 200 detectives when she finally got the top job leading a regional Murder Squad. Gone is aired on ITV in the UK on Sundays and Mondays throughout March with all episodes appearing on ITVX on March 8th for the binge-watchers among you. Gone is written by George Kay and directed by Richard Laxton. It stars Eve Myles and David Morrissey and co-stars Jennifer Macbeth, Arthur Hughes, Nicholas Nunn, Elliot Cowan, Billy Barrett, Rupert Evans, Jodie McNee, Oscar Batterham, and Clare Higgins. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    1hr 12min
  7. Luther & The Iris Affair: the crime creations of Booker Award-nominated Neil Cross

    4 MAR

    Luther & The Iris Affair: the crime creations of Booker Award-nominated Neil Cross

    Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com Doctor Who, Spooks, Luther: some of Britain’s best-loved TV crime dramas have scripts written by Neil Cross. The Bristolian who now lives in New Zealand created Idris Elba’s beloved London detective on a spur-of-the-moment during a meeting with BBC managers. And, more recently, he devised the fast-paced, twisty, laugh-out-loud thriller The Iris Affair, featuring Niamh Algar and Tom Hollander. In this interview, Neil describes how his life changed in a chance-moment at a careers advice meeting at university. He describes the difference between writing for an established show with an engaged following - like Doctor Who - compared with creating his own series. And, in this open, confessional interview, he talks about his tough upbringing in Bristol and Scotland, being expelled from school, spending years unemployed, before getting into university and embarking on his writing career. You can find out more about Neil here: http://www.neil-cross.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    1hr 9min

  8. 11 FEB

    The women serial killers of Papal Rome: The Book of Secrets with Anna Mazzola

    Subscribe for free: www.robertmurphy.substack.com Imagine you are a woman in 1659 Papal Rome. You can’t choose your husband, your job, your home. If your family had no money, you’d most likely end up in a convent or on the streets. And what if your life was ruled by a brutal husband, father or brother? Divorce? No chance. Anna Mazzola discovered the true case of Gironima Spana who supplied women with a potion known as Aqua Tofana to sort the problem: to kill the men. But the corpses didn’t decay as they should, and the authorities were alerted. ‘The Book of Secrets’ reimagines this story from three perspectives: the poisoner, a survivor of domestic abuse and the prosecutor entrusted with catching the killers. The Book of Secrets won the 2025 Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award - one of the biggest accolades in crime writing. In this interview, Anna Mazzola describes the inspiration and research for the novel, how her work as a human rights lawyer informs her work, and her new venture writing crime/political thrillers set in the modern day under her pen-name Anna Sharp. You can find out more about Anna Mazzola here: https://annamazzola.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

    41 min
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About

A podcast about crime - both real and fictitious # WINNER: Outstanding Indie Podcast @ True Crime Awards 2024 # Crime is one of the biggest genres in books and on TV: both true crime and fiction. Why? What makes a criminal? What drives a person to ignore the laws and conventions of normal society and pushes them to perform truly dark acts? Sex? Money? Revenge? Love? Humiliation? And why do so many creative people drawn to crime as a fertile ground for stories? Award-winning TV crime correspondent Robert Murphy speaks with writers, directors, police and experts about their work. Which true crimes inspired some of our favourite books, shows and films? And why do we as a society find crime so compelling? In this series, Rob speaks with creatives including Lee Child, David Baldacci, Lynda La Plante, Jackie Kabler, Mark Gatiss, George Kay and many, many others about their true crime inspiration. For video interviews, evidence from each case, articles and more, go to https://robertmurphy.substack.com/about robertmurphy.substack.com

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