Podcasts by The Tip Off

Ep. 68 The deep blue from 2023-10-23T02:01:51

A tragedy in the English Channel got Aaron Walawalkar thinking. How could it be that people were dying, their boats sinking in one of the busiest stretches of water in the world?

This ...

Ep. 67 Moths to a flame from 2023-08-08T02:01:41

The horizon near Ali’s house is filled with flames. Owen Pinnell and Jess Kelly, from BBC Arabic, can't stop thinking of them.

And back in the UK, Unearthed's Joe Sandler Clarke is d...

Ep.66 What a scoop! from 2023-05-05T02:01:35

You will have heard about the BBC Newnight interview with Prince Andrew - it was a seismic scoop that reverberated around the world.

But how did it happen? The answer is one woman: Sam...

Ep. 65 Closed ranks from 2023-04-06T02:01:01

Hannah Al-Othman sits in her car in front of a stranger’s house. Inside is a man who might be responsible for a woman’s death. A man whose name is known to a lot of people, but who has not yet b...

Introducing... Silenced from 2022-06-16T05:01:58

We're between series of The Tip Off now - and planning lots more great episodes for you, but while we do, why not take a listen to Silenced.

A new podcast from human rights organisatio...

Ep. 64 In the pipeline from 2022-06-02T11:22:20

Rob Cribb had an idea for an investigation, an idea so big it was almost impossible to envisage how the work could be done. But then, it came to him....

This is the story of how more t...

Ep. 63 Listen from 2022-05-19T10:21:38

Who gets to tell the stories we hear? On this episode we hear from citizen journalists - two women with lived experience of homelessness and surrounding issues, as they talk us through a ground-...

Ep. 62 Butternutters from 2022-04-29T05:01:58

How do you investigate a group that is shrouded in secrecy by its very nature? 

This is the story of how two journalists - Patrick Lohmann and Marnie Eisenstadt tracked down dozen...

Ep. 61 Beyond the Horizon from 2022-04-14T05:01:51

Where do you start in unravelling one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the UK system? For Nick Wallis it all began with a tweet.

This is the story of how Nick’s ten...

Ep. 60 From the archive: Web of death - part 1 from 2022-04-07T05:01:55

Hi Tip Off Listeners - We are working hard on new episodes for you, and have some more great stories coming up this series. But this week we are taking a dip into our archive.

As the ...

Ep. 59 Unidentified flying objects from 2022-03-24T06:01:15

One December day, Samira Shackle found herself in the midst of an unfolding, global story. Drones had been spotted flying around Gatwick Airport. But weeks, then months passed, and no drone oper...

Ep. 58: Where justice ends from 2022-03-14T10:33:46

Annabel Hennessy was reporting on another case when she heard a name that would change everything. A lawyer, expert in First Nations’ rights, told her about Jody Gore - a woman convicted of murd...

Ep. 57 Evicted in a pandemic from 2022-02-26T06:01:23

What do you do if the data you need doesn’t exist? 

When the pandemic hit I couldn’t stop wondering about how the impact of lockdown, sickness or bereavement on people’s ability t...

Ep. 56 Exposing Savile - Part Two from 2022-02-17T06:01:28

Liz MacKean and Meirion Jones think they have everything they need to finally expose Jimmy Savile’s abhorrent crimes. But as their transmission date gets nearer, their BBC bosses start to pull b...

Ep. 55 Exposing Savile - Part One from 2022-02-10T06:01:38

Meirion Jones has had a strange feeling about Jimmy Savile for some time and he thinks he may have a way to probe further. When Savile dies, Meirion teams up with Liz MacKean to try and get to t...

Ep. 54 How it gets built from 2022-01-27T06:01:49

Zak Garner-Purkis is sat in a fastfood restaurant - his attention laser-focused on the men gathering across the road. He is trying to work out who these man are, how they have come to be there, ...

Coming soon - Series 9 of The Tip Off from 2021-12-31T06:01:31

Stay tuned - we will be back very soon with more stories behind the headlines.

Hosted on Acast. See from 2021-06-24T02:00

Creator and host of The Tip Off, Maeve McClenaghan has written a book, and it is now out in paperback.

Introducing…Cheat! from 2021-06-01T02:01

Cheats: we love to hate them. But in this climate of fast news, short attention spans, 280 characters, do we ever get the full picture? Cheat!, a new podcast from Somethin’ Else, digs underneath th...

Ep. 53 Black and white data from 2021-05-13T02:01

Sarah Turnnidge started her journalism career at local papers so it was there she first encountered press releases from police forces. But over time Sarah started to wonder - did they tell the w...

Ep. 52 The Exorcist from 2021-04-29T02:01

Andrew Gold, a freelance journalist, is feeling out of his depth. He is in a church hall on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and the priest he is there to see is not happy.

This is the s...

Ep.51 Baby snatchers from 2021-04-15T02:01

Pete Murimi has stumbled upon a horrifying hypothesis - that people are snatching children from the streets of Nairobi, Kenya. Now he is working for BBC Africa Eye and is on the trail. Working w...

Ep. 50 What happened next? from 2021-04-01T02:01

To commemorate getting to our 50th episode we look back at what happened next after some big stories went out. 

Jane Bradley, Samir Jeraj, Natalie Bloomer and Aliaume Leroy broke ...

Ep.49 Making them count from 2020-12-12T03:01

In late winter 2017 I was struck with what I thought was a simple question… how many people were dying while homeless? It turned out nobody knew the answer - so I set out, with colleagues around...

Ep. 48 Sharing data from 2020-10-08T02:00

Samir Jeraj and Natalie Bloomer have decided to team on to take on an investigation… they want to know if and how police forces are sharing information with immigration officials, and they are a...

Ep. 47 Omar from 2020-09-15T02:01

Omar Radi is working in dangerous circumstances. His journalism is exposing how tribal lands are being snatched away from inhabitants in Morocco, only to be sold off at exorbitant rates. He know...

Ep. 46 Dark Money from 2020-09-11T02:01

Peter Geoghegan is standing on a train station platform when he sees it - a large advert in a free-sheet newspaper that will set him off on an investigation into the dark world of campaign spend...

Ep. 45 Strings attached from 2020-06-11T02:01

BBC journalist Ellie Flynn is nervous, she is about to go undercover to meet a man who is offering a bed in his flat, but there is a catch… 

For weeks Ellie travelled the country ...

Ep. 44 Under our noses from 2020-05-21T02:01

HuffPost UK's Nadine White is onto a story- following allegations of fraud and wrong-doing in a well-publicised British church. But why has no-one else spotted the story? Could it be because the...

Ep. 43 Canned tomatoes from 2020-05-07T02:01

Ayo Awokoya had an idea and she couldn’t let it go. This is how a talented and tenacious freelancer followed her instincts to uncover a shocking story - revealing modern day slavery practices ha...

Ep. 42 Justice served cold from 2020-04-22T02:01

For years Alon Aviram and Adam Cantwell-Corn followed a story - a story that took them to dingy warehouses, stake-outs in cars, and undercover work in ice cream vans. This is how the Bristol Cab...

Introducing: The Immaculate Deception from 2020-04-01T02:01

This week we offer you a taste of something new... enjoy an extract from new podcast series The Immaculate Deception.

Fertility doctor Jan Karbaat was renowned for getting amazing resu...

Ep. 41 Behind closed doors from 2020-03-26T15:30

Journalist Louise Tickle is one of a handful of reporters who covers a secretive and little known area of UK life… the family courts. In this episode she explains the many challenges she faces i...

Ep. 40 O Sister Where Art Thou? from 2020-03-12T03:01

While researching the effects of the One Child Policy in China, LA Times journalist Barbara Demick stumbles upon an extraordinary story: twin sisters, one of whom was forcibly adopted away to th...

Ep.39 Fragments from 2020-02-27T03:01

Hundreds of miles apart, journalists Jessica Purkiss and JD are working to get answers. They are looking for accountability and justice for an Afghan man named Masih. Masih’s entire family was w...

Ep.38 Holding hands to jump from 2020-02-13T03:01

Jodi Kantor was given a beat and had been pointed at a tweet - a single tweet, without any names included that would set her on a months-long investigation. Teaming up with Megan Twohey, the two...

Ep. 37 Latitude Live - Anatomy of a conspiracy theory from 2019-10-10T02:01

In a crowded tent at Latitude Festival, journalist Charlie Mole explains how he tracked back how a conspiracy theory had grown and developed, finally ending up on US national news.

In ...

Ep. 36 What does justice look like? Part 2 from 2019-09-26T02:01

After working for years to put together the pieces of how a massacre had gone unsolved, Barry and his team publish their findings. But that is far from the end of the story…

This is ho...

Ep. 35 What does justice look like? Part 1 from 2019-09-19T02:01

The violent, protracted conflict known as The Troubles claimed many innocent victims in Northern Ireland. But one atrocity stood out for journalist Barry McCaffrey - the massacred of six men in ...

Ep. 34 The start of a scandal from 2019-08-29T02:01

Amelia Gentleman’s work exposing the Windrush Scandal is some of the most impactful and well-renowned journalism of recent years. But where did it all begin?

Amelia explains how a simp...

Ep. 33 Clues of a killing from 2019-08-15T02:01

A video of an extrajudicial killing haunts Aliaume Leroy - but how do you get to the truth from a short film posted on social media? 

Aliaume found himself banding together with o...

Ep.32 "Brother needs help" from 2019-08-01T02:01

Back in 2000 Jim DeRogatis received a fax that would change the course of his career forever. 

This is the story of how one journalist stayed on a story for decades, continuing to...

Ep.31 Chicken from 2019-04-25T02:01

Brexit. It is all anyone is talking about. But while politicians argue and wring their hands, what is going on behind the scenes?

Alice Ross and Lawrence Carter, part of Greenpeace's U...

Ep.30 A Post Antibiotic Era from 2019-04-11T02:01

Madlen Davies has been reporting on a concerning topic for years: the rise of antibiotic resistance and superbugs.

Her reporting started in the UK but she soon realised she would need...

Ep.29 Proof from 2019-03-21T03:01

Ashley Fantz often covers police press conferences as part of her day job at CNN. But a few years ago she would attend one that would set her on a months long journey, forensically piecing toget...

Ep.28 W1G from 2019-03-07T03:01

Ep.28 W1G

What connects a wide-screen TV in the toilet, a faked blockbuster film and an elaborate Las Vegas heist? Turns out... it's one address in central London.

Ep. 27 Mother from 2019-02-21T06:20

Ep.27 Mother

Lorna Tucker doesn’t think of herself as a journalist, more of a collector of stories. So years ago, when she stumbled on a story that needed to be told, she ...

Ep. 26 Burnt from 2019-02-07T03:00

Shiv Malik thought he was onto something special. He’d been working with a source who was offering incredible insights into the UK terrorist scene. And now, this same source was saying he was re...

A festive message from The Tip Off from 2018-12-16T13:20

Just a quick one to say thanks for all your support in 2018 and to update on plans for what comes next...... oh and to announce Maeve's part in a charity Christmas single.... yes you read that r...

Ep.25 The Tip Off LIVE - Tales from West Cork from 2018-10-07T02:01

A court case, a mysterious witness and an envelope at the Post Office... this is the story of how Sam Bungey and Jennifer Ford unravelled a decade old murder case.

Recorded in front of...

Ep.24 Shining a Light from 2018-08-23T02:01

In The Dark, the US podcast team, finished their acclaimed first series with a request: they wanted to hear what their audience thought they should be investigating next. And there, buried in th...

Ep.23 Many miles from home from 2018-08-02T02:01

Three continents, 80 interviews and an investigation that took more than a decade. This is the story of how Cam Simpson uncovered one of the great David vs. Goliath stories of our time.

Ep.22 Resolution from 2018-07-19T02:01

New Yorker writer Alexis Okeowo wants to tell stories differently. Her new book A Moonless Starless Sky, tells the stories of people affected by extremism in Africa.

In this e...

Ep. 21 Ready to talk from 2018-07-05T02:01

BBC File on Four's Alys Harte explores a shocking case of a sexually abused teenager who was failed by the authorities.

From speed-reading in-depth reports, to casting famous actors- t...

Ep.20 Chill Pill from 2018-06-21T02:01

Ben Bryant was having fun, mingling with friends at a house party when inspiration struck in the most unusual way. This is the story of how one moment of piqued interest turned into a year of in...

Ep. 19 Lives cut short from 2018-06-07T02:01

Gary Younge explains how he set out on a year long project to record the number of children and teenagers killed by knife violence.

Funerals, heartbreaking interviews and a tenacious h...

Ep.18 All the President's Club Men from 2018-05-31T02:01

Madison Marriage broke a story that ricocheted around the world. The sleazy goings on of the President’s Club fundraising dinner provoked shock and outrage from all camps.

But where di...

Hot off the press: The Tip Off Series 3 coming soon from 2018-05-14T02:02

A sneak peek at what's coming in series 3.... and a quick ask!

We've been shortlisted for TWO British Podcast Awards- yippee! (Best New Podcast and Smartest Podcast). But we're up agai...

Ep.17 Two sides to the story from 2018-03-08T03:03

A journalist is on the trail of a big story, unravelling how an 18 year-old rape victim came to be, not only disbelieved, but charged with false reporting after being attacked by a serial rapist...

Ep.16 Web of death- part 2 from 2018-02-15T10:45

After months of digging the end is in sight for Heidi Blake and the Buzzfeed team. They are piecing together a puzzle of mysterious deaths on British soil, and all the signs are pointing to Russ...

Ep.15 Web of death- part 1 from 2018-02-08T03:00

In the corner room of Buzzfeed’s office is a wall is covered with photographs. Photographs that are linked up in a web of connections. Photographs of dead men.These are the people Heidi Blake su...

Ep.14 Hoping to be wrong from 2018-01-25T03:00

Tip offs for a story can come in many forms, but for Alistair one investigation he worked on started in the worst way imaginable: with the death of a loved one.

From a hospital car-par...

Ep.13 Voices in the ether from 2018-01-11T04:00

When you set out on an investigation you usually start with a hypothesis- an idea that you will test and challenge as you go. But not Paul Myles…

Working for On Our Radar, Paul set ou...

Ep. 12 The sound of news from 2017-12-28T03:00

Leah Borromeo sees journalism differently to most. Or rather she hears it. Leah and colleagues are working on a project to tell investigative journalism through music.

So Maeve went al...

Ep.11 Putting a price on health from 2017-12-14T04:00

Ep. 11 Putting a price on health

Billy Kenber set out to look into one story and ended up finding another. Hidden within open datasets was proof of a practice that was...

Ep. 10 Brown paper envelopes from 2017-11-30T08:45

Jennifer Williams, of the Manchester Evening News, was hearing horrible stories coming from two hospitals in her patch. Rumour had it, there was a damning report out there... but getting hold of...

Ep.9 When the roof came down from 2017-10-26T09:16

Ep.9 When the roof came down In late July I read a Facebook post that would send me on a three month journey- from town council steps, to bland hotels to dirty council flats- I followed the stories...

Ep.8 The stories untold from 2017-07-27T12:53:18

Ep.8 The stories untoldIt’s one thing breaking a story- but how do you keep reporting a story that unfurls over years and not days?Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi explains how she travelled to the vast re...

Ep.7 Codename Prometheus from 2017-07-20T07:07:45

Ep. 7 Codename: PrometheusEveryone’s heard of the Panama Papers- the stories from the biggest data lead in history rocked the world. But how did it happen? Where did the data appear from? How do yo...

Ep.6 Caught offside? from 2017-07-13T07:44:20

Ep. 6 Caught offside?A two year investigation took reporters undercover as they met with top football managers and agents.Claire Newell explains how the Daily Telegraph’s investigation team exposed...

Ep.5 It started with a body from 2017-07-06T06:43:02

Ep. 5 It started with a bodyIt started with a body and ended up in a months long investigation exploring the scale of homelessness in a London borough. We follow Emma Youle as one simple story grow...

Ep.4 Knock Knock from 2017-06-29T07:53:28

Ep.4 Knock knock Jane Bradley is stood on doorstep in West London. She is about to knock and tell a mother that she suspects her son is one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. We follow Jane’s p...

Ep.3 Back to the source from 2017-06-22T07:18:17

Ep.3 Back to the source The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Abigail Fielding-Smith finds a vital source, who lets her into the world of the Pentagon’s top-secret propaganda machine. With: Abig...

Ep.2 The stuff of horror movies from 2017-06-14T07:39:16

Ep. 2 The stuff of horror movies Piece by piece the Washington Post’s Louisa Loveluck puts together the picture of a horrifying Syrian torture facility, in a setting you wouldn’t expect. WARNING: T...

Ep.1 Follow the money from 2017-06-14T07:21:57

Ep.1 Follow the money Wigs, car chases and rucksacks stuffed with cash. Buzzfeed’s Heidi Blake explains how she exposed the questionable financial practices of one of the Conservative Party’s large...

Coming soon... The Tip Off from 2017-06-11T12:24:16

Welcome to The Tip Off, a new weekly podcast that delves into the stories behind some of the biggest headlines in British journalism.

Hosted on Ac...