1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Hey, Girlfriends, it's Anna here. This is Bonus episode four, 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: the final one, and this one's really special because it 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: was recorded live at Wilderness Festival back in August. It's 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: going to include a lot of discussion about murder and 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:16,959 Speaker 1: violence against women, and it's going to touch on the 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: topic of abortion. But it's also really fascinating discussion about 7 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: the ethics of true crime and the roles we all 8 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: play as part of it. 9 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 2: So to the festival. 10 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,959 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to our very first live podcast recording 11 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: of The Girlfriends. 12 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 2: It is so great to be here at Wilderness Festival. 13 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: I've got a crick in my neck because I slept 14 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: badly last night in a tent. 15 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 2: Awful, but it was so nice as well. 16 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: I'm Anna Sinfield and today I'm joined by Kate summer Scale, 17 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: the author of The Peak Show, which is a true 18 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: crime book about a set of eight shocking murders that 19 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: happened in London in the nineteen forties and fifties. The 20 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: book deep dives on the serial killer John Christie, his 21 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: female victims, and the circumstances that allowed him to go 22 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: uncourt for so long and potentially caused another man to 23 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: be hanged for his crime, but it also brings up 24 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: lots of interesting questions about the impact and role of 25 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: true crime reporting, which is basically what we're going to 26 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: be talking about today. So, without any further ado from 27 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts, this is the 28 00:01:35,760 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: Girlfriend's Jail House Lawyer. Okay, So fans of the Girlfriends 29 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: will know that our later series Your House Lawyer. 30 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 2: I wrestle with figuring out my role. 31 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: In reporting that story, and also, more broadly, with the 32 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: ethics of true crime reporting, of turning something so kind 33 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: of awful into a sense of like morbid entertainment. And 34 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: I know that that's something that you've had to wrestle 35 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: with yourself in your book The Peak Show, Kate. And 36 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: so before we get a little too existential about our jobs, 37 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: I was wondering if you could tell me first what 38 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: drew you to this story out of all the grizzly 39 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: murders in the world. 40 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 3: It felt as if I'd always dimly known about it, 41 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 3: like a horrible fairy tale. I saw the wax statue 42 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 3: of reg Christie at the Madame Tusword's Chamber of Horrors 43 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 3: when I was about eight, and I saw the film 44 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 3: tenon Place on late night TV when I was in 45 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 3: my teens, and I remembered it when there were the 46 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 3: murders of several women in London in twenty twenty twenty 47 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 3: one who had been killed by strangers, Sarah Everard among them, 48 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 3: and I started thinking about that phenomenon, men who kill 49 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 3: women who are strangers to them just because they are women, 50 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 3: And I started wondering why, and I remembered the Rillington 51 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 3: Place story. I didn't even remember Red Christie's name at 52 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 3: the time, but when I looked it up, I saw 53 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 3: various parallels and echoes with the more recent crimes, and 54 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 3: I thought that by studying him and his world, I 55 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 3: could get a better sense of the connections between a culture, 56 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 3: a society, and the violence it produces than by looking 57 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 3: at my own time, which is almost too close up 58 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 3: to see. 59 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, when you looked at those crimes of 60 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: before and compared them to the crimes that you had 61 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: been experiencing in the early twenties, seeing these women murdered 62 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: by strangers, did you feel like there was difference? Did 63 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: you notice a difference between them or does it just 64 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: feel like this sad trope of male violence has just 65 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: continued in the same form. 66 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 3: I did notice more the similarities and the differences. He 67 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 3: was not least Christie, I discovered, like Wayne Cousins, was 68 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 3: serving as a policeman when he committed his first known murder. 69 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 3: He was a reserve policeman during the Second World War, 70 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 3: which was an amazing opportunity for catching women unawares and 71 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 3: concealing crimes of violence. 72 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 4: So yes, I noticed the parallels, but it was. 73 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 3: Sort of easier to see at a distance in the fifties, 74 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 3: the way that Christie's attitudes were so closely echoed in 75 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 3: the press, in the police force, in the way that 76 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 3: pathologists talked about the victims, and so it helt easier 77 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 3: to understand him as a product of his society as 78 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 3: well as of his individual life. 79 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: You brought up the press there, and a big part 80 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: of your book focuses on this crime reporter called Harry Procter, 81 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: and you say in the book, and I'm going to 82 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: quote this, that he was successful because he didn't just 83 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: tell a story, he infiltrated it. 84 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 2: He embedded himself. 85 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: I know that I lose myself in so many of 86 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: the cases that I work on, and they're pretty kind 87 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: of hardcore stories of people being killed or experiencing violence 88 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: in some respect, Are you as obsessive about your stories 89 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: as Harry Procter and me. 90 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, I love the research more than any other part 91 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 3: of the composition of a book. I mean, most of 92 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 3: my research, because I write historical stories, is in archives, 93 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 3: and so I'm going through old papers, witness statements, in 94 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 3: police files, transcripts of trials, photographs, maps, floor plans, and 95 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 3: I get completely lost in it. And it feels, you know, 96 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 3: as you literally are sort of touching the past. You're 97 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 3: holding the same documents as the people who you're writing 98 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 3: about and thinking about, and so I find it very, 99 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 3: very absorbing. 100 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 2: Yeah. 101 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,679 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know about you, But on my desk, 102 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: my writing desk at home now, I've got a kind 103 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: of really quite weird and perverse collection of belongings and 104 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: things that have been owned by victims in some of 105 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: my stories or their families, and I've been gifted them 106 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: or you know, loaned them so that i can do 107 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: my research, and it always feels so different holding you know, 108 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: for example, I've got a version of a book that 109 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: was owned by this woman called Heidi's Family in the 110 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: second series of the girlfriends. We identify this woman called 111 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 1: Heidi who had been murdered, and I've got her dad's 112 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: version of a book that was written about her murder. 113 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: And it feels so strange to own that artifacts and 114 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: to hold it in my hand. It feels different from 115 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: the version that I had when it was just from 116 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: the library. Do you feel strange touching the past in 117 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: that way. 118 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 4: Yes, i'd have. 119 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 3: I mean maybe because they happened seventy years ago. I 120 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 3: don't have so many objects in my possession, but they 121 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 3: are just open to the public. It feels kind of 122 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 3: miraculous that you can just order up these papers and 123 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 3: artifacts sometimes and sort of be with them and touch them. 124 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 3: And sometimes there are weird coincidences. I'll order a second 125 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 3: hand book on the internet and when it arrives, open 126 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 3: it and find it's sort of being inscribed to one 127 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 3: of the characters in the story. And then you feel 128 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 3: part of actually a strangely close knit network or world, 129 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 3: and you feel like you're sort of participating in it, 130 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 3: albeit over time you're not their live, but the aspiration 131 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 3: is to sort of be live, And in moments like that, 132 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 3: you feel like it almost is unfolding in real time. 133 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: There's a line in your book that really stood out 134 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: to me because it's been something I've been pulling my 135 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: hair out a little bit over. Is you wrote being 136 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: complicit in a culture that made morbid entertainment of women's bodies. 137 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: I believe you were talking about the journalism of the time. 138 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: But as a true crime writer today, do you think 139 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: that's changed and what do you think your role is 140 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: in that? 141 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 4: I think it's much more starkly visible. 142 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 3: In the nineteen fifties, the ways in which the tabloid 143 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 3: press in particular, but also movies and posters and adverts 144 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 3: entered women was so sort of glaringly sexualized and objectified, 145 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 3: and for entertainment, you know, for pleasure, for male flecture principally, 146 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 3: But of course there are versions of that now, but 147 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 3: it's less in your face, so you kind of see 148 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 3: it more clearly. And in fact, there were murders that 149 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 3: took place in North London in twenty twenty near where 150 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 3: I live. Bieber Henry and Nicole Smallman, who sisters, were 151 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 3: killed in a park. They were killed by a stranger 152 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 3: who had a mission to kill a certain number of women, 153 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 3: and afterwards the police circulated photographs of their bodies and 154 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 3: talk about a peep show, talk about making a morbid entertainment. 155 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 3: But the press does the same. A book like mine 156 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 3: does that. It's trying to tell a story that will 157 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 3: engage in gross script the reader and the subject is 158 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 3: the of these women. So there's some degree of complicity, 159 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 3: but there are different ways of doing it. There are 160 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 3: different ways of thinking and feeling about it and presenting it. 161 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 3: And in fact, in my book, I made the decision 162 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 3: to not include a photo section because there seemed no 163 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 3: way of illustrating this book without having a sort of 164 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 3: gallery of victims mugshots. So that's sort of try to 165 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 3: use Harry Procter in a way, who was also troubled 166 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 3: by some of these issues and was the style crime 167 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 3: reporter for one of the best selling tabloids in the country. 168 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 3: Use him to help me think about what I'm doing 169 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 3: and what we do and what we do as readers 170 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 3: of true crime or listeners to through crime podcasts and 171 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 3: so on, and to at least reflect on that as 172 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 3: I go. 173 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean that was going to be one 174 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: of my next questions was in Harry Potter's autobiography in 175 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: relation to people criticizing his reporting, He says, it was 176 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: tougher for me to do than for you to read it, 177 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: So why the hell do we do it? 178 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 4: That sounds very defensive to me of Harry Procter. 179 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 5: It. 180 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 3: It's not a little I mean, I wouldn't do it 181 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 3: unless I did enjoy it and find it rewarding and 182 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 3: feel I was some gripped and learnt things by doing it. 183 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 3: And he goes on in that passage to sort of 184 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 3: he blames his editors for sending him out on these stories, 185 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 3: and in fact, he did eventually have a nervous breakdown 186 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 3: because they wouldn't take him off. So he blames his editors, 187 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 3: He blames his bosses for sending him out on the stories, 188 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 3: and he blames his readers. He says, I only give 189 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 3: it to you because you want it, you know, before 190 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 3: you back through a moral outrage at me, you're the 191 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 3: ones who want it. So it all sounds very troubled 192 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 3: and defensive to me, as if he really he really 193 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 3: is struggling with his role in this material and the 194 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 3: ways in which he and many in Fleet Street carried 195 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 3: out their inquiries at the time is quite shocking by 196 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 3: today's standards, but that doesn't you know, it's still a 197 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:19,359 Speaker 3: it's all on a spectrum. 198 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously, as a true homewriter, I also 199 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: am going to endorse that it's a good medium. But 200 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: I do think that there are some genuine upsides to 201 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: some of the stuff we do, and you point out 202 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,319 Speaker 1: some in your book. For example, some of the essays 203 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: and works around Tim Evans, the man who was hanged 204 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: prior to Christie's arrest, that helped move the needle on 205 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: conversations around the death penalty. So like, actually that writing 206 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: helped make a difference. 207 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, And Harry Proctor was desperate to get Christy to 208 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 3: confess to the murder of the little girl, one year 209 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 3: old girl for which Tim Evans had hanged, And it 210 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 3: wasn't just a search for justice this particular case, but 211 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 3: also to expose the way that the justice system could 212 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 3: malfunction and innocent people because there was capital punishment, could 213 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 3: be sent to their deaths and so there was no 214 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 3: way of correcting the error. So the Evans case was 215 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,839 Speaker 3: really instrumental in getting the death penalty abolished in the 216 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,079 Speaker 3: nineteen sixties. It took that long, but Harry Propter was 217 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:31,439 Speaker 3: part of that push to expose the truth, and the government. 218 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,839 Speaker 4: Was very keen to. 219 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 3: Move on and cover up this stuff because they wanted 220 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 3: to defend the justice system, but also the existence of 221 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 3: the death penalty, continuation of the death penalty, So it 222 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 3: was quite a political story in those ways, but it 223 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 3: also brought to light the reporting on the case, the 224 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 3: publicity given to it also brought to light quite a 225 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 3: lot of fractures and tensions in British society, and quite 226 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 3: a lot of desperate practices, such as an awareness about 227 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 3: illegal abortion and how dangerous it was and how desperate 228 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 3: single women often were when they became pregnant and this 229 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 3: was their only recourse at back street abortion because Christy 230 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 3: posed as and I think acted as a backstreet abortionist, 231 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 3: and this was one of the means by which he 232 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 3: lured women to his home, and so the vulnerability, it 233 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 3: was a particularly dramatic manifestation of the danger of back 234 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 3: street abortion. You wouldn't normally expect to be murdered, but 235 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 3: it was a fairly risky procedure in which women did sometimes. 236 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 2: Die and were very easily exploited. 237 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, both of those examples are examples of 238 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: crime reporting that's actually making a difference. 239 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 2: It's having a cultural impact. 240 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: Do you think that crime reporting always needs to you know, 241 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: the north Star needs we have an impact, We change things, 242 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: we do something different. 243 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 3: I don't think you always know what the impact will be, 244 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 3: So I don't think needs to be justified by that. 245 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 3: I think stories are worth telling. Terrible events are worth 246 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 3: exploring to find out where they come from, what form 247 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 3: they take, how they manifest themselves. And also some stories 248 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 3: very interested in the way that some of these terrible 249 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 3: stories express the fears and fantasies, often the unspoken fears 250 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 3: and fantasies of a wider world. So as a writer, 251 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 3: as a researcher, writing about crime feels like getting access 252 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 3: to a kind of underground emotional life of a society. 253 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 4: Of a culture, as a nation. 254 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 3: You start to see the things that animate people, that 255 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 3: scare them, that they fantasize about. And so there are 256 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 3: lots of ways, not all of them practical, in where 257 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 3: which a crime story, a story of violence can help 258 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 3: us learn who we are and where we come from 259 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 3: and how the world worked. 260 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: Well, that was one of the things that I thought 261 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: was great about your book, because you really pointed the 262 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: finger back at the audience at all of the kind 263 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: of sickos in the room today who like to listen 264 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: about murders and read about murders and grizzly things and 265 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: the darkest parts of society, and you kind of say, 266 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: why is it that you want to participate in this 267 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: grizzly peep show? And there are examples of it in 268 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: the book as well. There was a group of women 269 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: who tried to break in after it was kind of 270 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: all boarded up, just because they presumably wanted to be 271 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: in this place where so much darkness had happened to 272 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: other women. And people want to know the worst details, 273 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: don't they. Why do you think people are so obsessed 274 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: with true crime? 275 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 3: Such a big question when I read about the women 276 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 3: who tried to break in through the bay window at 277 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 3: Tamorylington Place, and I thought war weird, you know, And 278 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 3: then I thought, it's what I'm doing. 279 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: You're breaking into the window, breaking into the window and 280 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: trying to get inside the house. 281 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 3: You know, it's not so different. And people clamored at 282 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 3: the courthouses to see Christy, to see him, and it 283 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 3: was remarked upon sometimes that a lot of them were women. 284 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 3: And now true crime podcasts at two thirds of the 285 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 3: audiences are women, so that as a route to why 286 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:36,560 Speaker 3: are we so fascinated by it? I mean, one quite 287 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 3: compelling idea to me is that there are stories that 288 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 3: get told through these crimes that are not often aired, 289 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 3: stories about domestic violence, about maratal unhappiness, about betrayal, about 290 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 3: problems between parents and children, about unwanted pregnancies, that a 291 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,199 Speaker 3: lot of the domestic difficulty that many women kind of 292 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 3: deal with it isn't aired so much in the pages 293 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 3: of the press, and certainly didn't used to be in 294 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 3: the nineteen fifties, unless through a story of a violent crime. 295 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,360 Speaker 3: So it gives us access to things that we sort 296 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 3: of know about or half know about, or want to 297 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 3: talk about. Another thing would be that it's a kind 298 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 3: of knowing your enemy impulse. Do you want to see 299 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 3: the man who might kill you, or what that kind 300 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 3: of man looks like, or what makes him, how to 301 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 3: identify him, what circumstances the women who were killed by 302 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 3: him found themselves in that that happened to them, So 303 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 3: a self protective instinct perhaps does at work as well. Also, 304 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:47,200 Speaker 3: I think there are just our own anger fear. Maybe 305 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 3: even violent stories finds an outlet in thinking about and 306 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 3: learning about these things, it can act as some kind 307 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 3: of vent or self expression. Reading as well as writing, 308 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 3: can be that kind of self express. 309 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 2: I get that. Okay, So now I've called your sickos. 310 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: I was just wondering if any of you had any 311 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:36,120 Speaker 1: questions for me or Kate, No pressure, Lovely over here, 312 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: ll wait for the microphone. 313 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 2: We've got to get it on the podcast. 314 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 4: So dark stuff. 315 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 3: So do you have some sort of cleansing for yourself 316 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 3: once you've done some detailed research and you've written the 317 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 3: book to step away? 318 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 4: Do you need to do that at all? It feels 319 00:19:57,840 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 4: a big relief. 320 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 3: Maybe this is the case for a writer, but with 321 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 3: a story as intense as this, and I did work 322 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 3: on it very intensely, partly because there was so much material, 323 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 3: I needed to go fast to kind of keep it 324 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 3: in my head, to keep the story straight. And there's 325 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 3: a great relief in sharing it with other people, in 326 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 3: the first instance, your editor, a publishing team, that it 327 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 3: stops being just yours. So publication is in itself a 328 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 3: kind of lifting of the story from a private sphere 329 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,640 Speaker 3: into a public sphere, and people can read it converse 330 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 3: with you about it. So something that has been internal 331 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 3: conversations becomes something that can be talked about and that 332 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 3: feels good, that feels really nice. I mean perhaps you're 333 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 3: asking about during the process of writing. I think it 334 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 3: feels like any job I need, you know, company, different 335 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:58,199 Speaker 3: things going on. I don't feel that it's a particularly 336 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 3: more difficult thing to bear than any other. It's something 337 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 3: I'm interested in enjoy. I don't feel poisoned by it, 338 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 3: you know. I don't feel I need to be cleansed 339 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 3: as I go. I just need sort of light and shade, 340 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 3: as anyone would doing things for fun instead of things 341 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 3: that are intense and purposeful. 342 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think in short, hate's made of strong stuff. 343 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: I don need some cleansing after all of my shows 344 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: any more questions? Got one over here just in front. 345 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 2: Hello. Do you when you go back to the start 346 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 2: of your career to now, do you reflect on how 347 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 2: it's perhaps shaped you as a person in your response 348 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 2: to the world. 349 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 3: Well, I've had a big change of career in that 350 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 3: I worked as a journalist for many years for newspapers. 351 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:47,880 Speaker 4: I was an editor. 352 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 3: Rather than a writer, and I left to write a 353 00:21:52,920 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 3: book which was successful Beyond my dreams and need to 354 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 3: continue writing books and that's all I do. That's been 355 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 3: a huge change because I get to decide what I 356 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 3: do every day. I get to sort of follow my nose, 357 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 3: follow my curiosity, and I miss the company of the 358 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 3: newspaper office. It's quite a solitary work I do now, 359 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 3: but I love being able to determine my own path 360 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 3: all the time, and I'm sure that has changed me 361 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,119 Speaker 3: as a person and how I feel my place in 362 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 3: the world. 363 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:34,919 Speaker 1: I think we've got time, but one more question then 364 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: I've got to wrap it up. 365 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,679 Speaker 5: Hi, So you were talking about why people listen to 366 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 5: true crime. Do you think that because in the media 367 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 5: killers are kind of shown as like monsters and stuff. 368 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 5: Do you think there's like a need to feel separated 369 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 5: from those people. What are your thoughts on that. 370 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 4: Oh, I think totally yes. 371 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 3: And I really noticed in the coverage of Christie how 372 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 3: eager the press was to sort of monster him, you know, 373 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 3: to either talk about him as a psychopath, a word 374 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 3: I find quite problematic, just the way you're saying, like, 375 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 3: not like me, you know, a monster, a creature, and 376 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 3: the desire to distance oneself from the murderer and to 377 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 3: be reassured that you're not that is. I think one 378 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 3: of the pleasures of reading about crime, whether it's fictional 379 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 3: or factual, and it's a totally understandable impulse, but one 380 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,440 Speaker 3: of its effects is to sort of say that this 381 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 3: person has nothing to do with the society in which 382 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 3: he lived, and I think there is more complicity than that. 383 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 3: I was eager neither to glamorize Christie as this sort 384 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 3: of great serial killer, you know, cunning, but nor to 385 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 3: distance him in the way that the press did at 386 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 3: the time, and to make him so different, so kind 387 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,160 Speaker 3: of exceptional. And I could see he was in some ways. 388 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 3: He wasn't exceptional. The things he ultimately did were, but 389 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 3: his sort of fantasies and assumptions and prejudices were perfectly ordinary, 390 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,719 Speaker 3: I mean, frighteningly ordinary. And I'm sure it's shared across 391 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,159 Speaker 3: the society. And I totally agree with you that one 392 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 3: of the pleasures of especially like if you read a 393 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 3: crime novel and you get to the end and you're 394 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 3: one of the pleasures is it wasn't me, you know, 395 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 3: knowing to do with me, So feelings of kind of 396 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 3: unease or guilt are dispelled by the identification of the 397 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 3: murderer and the assignment of blame. 398 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. 399 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: On the Girlfriend's Joe House Lawyer, which is the podcast 400 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: that's coming out at the moment, We've actually tried to 401 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: go on the other side of kind of exploring. 402 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 2: What it means to be a villain. 403 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: We're trying to understand what happens when you fall in 404 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: the in between, which is where all of us fall, 405 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: I'm sorry to say, is we're neither perfect nor are 406 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: we totally bad. And even the perpetrators that I actually 407 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: spend time interviewing. I'm interviewing people who've been convicted of 408 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: murder on the show, and it's realizing that they have passed. 409 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 2: That have led them up to that point. 410 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: And when you start to kind of try and stop 411 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: seeing them just as monsters, but as people who are 412 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: a product of their circumstances, it forces you to look 413 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: inwards as well, which is a scary place to be looking. 414 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 2: Okay, well, that is a fun note to end on. 415 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: Look, that's all we've got time for today, So thank 416 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: you so much, Kate. 417 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 2: This has been brilliant. Could everyone give her a big. 418 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 1: Run of a pause, So do make sure to pick 419 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: up Kate's book, The Peak Show at All the usual 420 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 1: spots and check out The Girlfriends wherever you get your podcasts, 421 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: which is where you hear me. Thank you, Thank you 422 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,359 Speaker 1: so much to Kate and to Wilderness Festival for having me, 423 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. 424 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 2: We've finally come to the end of season three. 425 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: The Girlfriends will return with a brand new season very soon, 426 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: and I won't give you any spoilers, but let's just 427 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,439 Speaker 1: say I've heard some of it and you're in for 428 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: one hell of a story. Plus, make sure you check 429 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: out The Girlfriend's Spotlight two where you can hear more 430 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: incredible stories of women winning. 431 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 2: That's it from me, so I'll see you soon. 432 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,360 Speaker 1: The Girlfriend's Gelhouse Lawyer is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. 433 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show 434 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: is hosted by me Anna Sinfield and is written and 435 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: produced by me and Lee Meyer, with additional production from 436 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:01,439 Speaker 1: Jaco Taivich and Michael Jinno. Our assistant produce is Madeline Parr. 437 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:06,360 Speaker 1: The editors are Georgia Moody and me Annasinfield. Production management 438 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,880 Speaker 1: from Sarie Houston, Joe Savage, and Charlotte Wolfe. 439 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 2: Our fact checker is Daniel Suleiman. 440 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: Music supervision by me Alis Infield, Lee Meyer, and Nicholas Alexander. 441 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: Original music composed by Nicholas Alexander, Daniel Kempson and Louisa Gerstein. 442 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: Story development by Nell Gray Andrews and Willard Foxton. Creative 443 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: director of novel, Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive 444 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: producers for novel, and Katrina Norvell and Nicki Eator are 445 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,400 Speaker 1: the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts, and the marketing lead 446 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: is Alison Cantor. Thanks also to Carry Lieberman and the 447 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: whole team at WME