Serial podcast: Which cases should Sarah Koenig investigate next?

Serial is back. Well, almost. 

Love this artwork from Serial's creators

A very welcome email drops into the ShadowPlay inbox declaring that, having sifted through 1,500 submissions for cases worthy of her attention, Sarah Koenig and her podcasting team have chosen a case for series two of the hit podcast. 
The phenomenal success of the first series (nearly 80 million downloads) sent earthquakes through the podcasting world. New companies are being set up to house the scores of new podcasts - with money and support flowing into what looked a niche and fading industry. The world was hooked on the case of Adnan Syed - no, really - only Eritrea and North Korea failed to register a listener. And even if its outcome was somewhat ambiguous (another podcast, The Undisclosed, has just launched attempting to solve the same case), the anticipation for a follow up is rife. 

The nature of the subject for the second series - which as yet has no air date - have been debated long and hard in the pub. Well, the kind of pubs I go to. Opinions are divided as to whether Koenig and producer Dana Chivvis should gun for an unsolved case, an attempt to overturn a guilty conviction or a completely different crime. Here's a few options:

The Babes in the Wood 

Perhaps Koenig and the team could cross the pond to attempt to solve arguably Britain's most famous unsolved case. The murder of young girls Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway after being snatched, sexually assaulted and strangled in Brighton sent the nation into shock in 1986. Chief suspect Russell Bishop was acquitted but is serving a life sentence for another, similar attempted murder. 
Could Serial prove his guilt or innocence?* 

The case of the disembodied feet 
This Canadian case has puzzled Canadian police since feet began washing up in Vancouver in August 2007. Four left feet and one right, still wearing trainers, have appeared. Everything from a 2005 plane crash off nearby Quadra Island to victims of torture have been suggested as the cause. With the case closely watched, many would welcome a podcasted resolution. 

The Somerton Man

Australia's conspiracy theorists have enjoyed more than half a century puzzling over the 1948 find of the body of a man known only as 'T.Keane'. Many believe the man, who washed up on Somerton beach in South Australia, was a Cold War spy or a poisoned murder victim. A suitcase was found at Adelaide railway station containing clothes that matched his alongside Persian poetry that said 'it is ended'. The book from which it was ripped was found in a doctor's care along with letters written in some kind of code. The various leads, including a mysterious nurse, in this case would doubtless tempt Koenig. 

The case of Edgar Coker
Edgar Coker pleaded guilty to a charge of rape in 2007 to avoid going to adult prison. The teenager suffered a 15-month sentence and being listed as a sex offender for six years after an accusation by a then 14-year-old. Coker and his accuser both have IQs in the lowest 5-10% of the US population. This case has actually been solved - by the University of Virginia Law School Innocence Project, which has helped out Serial - and Coker has been removed from the register after his accuser revealed she lied. However, the Koenig touch to another case involving young people - given the listeners won't know the story - may appeal.

The Loch Ness monster
Well, if someone's gonna get to the bottom of it (the Loch and the mystery), it's this lot. Don't take podcasting equipment into the water though Dana… 

Jack the Ripper
At least some crusty historians and east end accents could make amusing appearances. And I'm sure there's a Cockney MailChimp ad in the making. 

*A macabre footnote in the tale is that Katrina Taylor, who played Fellows in a Crimewatch TV re-enactment of the murders, was found stabbed to death in a graveyard in 1996 in another unsolved murder.

Serial: Could the crime podcast solve the case for radio's future?

Serial host Sarah Koenig

Ambridge’s cockerels could soon be shrieking their final crow, with former Home Secretary David Blunkett, saying he “was losing the will to live” over BBC Radio 4’s The Archers' plot lines this week. But the phenomenal worldwide success of new podcast Serial
may signal a changing of the guard in audio entertainment as millions of listeners wait on tenterhooks for today’s edition.

Serial, a spin-off from US radio show This American Life, is hosted by former Baltimore Sun journalist Sarah Koenig who sets out the case for and against Adnan Syed, who was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999, aged just 17. Koenig turns the case like a Rubik’s cube in attempting to discern the student's killer, guiding listeners through holes in the conviction and Syed’s story.

Listeners have taken to Reddit to attempt to solve the case and are hosting listening parties for each episode.

Serial producer Dana Chivvis tells me the conclusion is not set in stone: “We have a vague idea, but we also know we could uncover some key piece of information tomorrow, and the whole thing could take a sharp turn. Or not.”

With many in the UK coming to Serial late, this thriller has triggered a spate of binge listening amongst commuters and those attacking the household chores. Marathon DVD boxset and streaming sessions are now a firm part of our televisual culture, but could this be the tipping point for radio and podcasting?

“This is the first break-out podcast,” argues Matt Deegan, creative director at radio consultancy Folder Media. “Serial could be to podcasting what House of Cards was to Netflix.”

Chivvis adds: “People want to binge listen because they want to be able to immediately scratch that itch of ‘what's gonna happen?’ But also because it’s so engrossing to live inside the world of this story, the same way you don’t want to look up from a really good book or go to the bathroom in the middle of an epic movie.”

Serial is not the only podcast charming hordes of fans keen to consume its wares in one gorge. Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode’s long-running BBC Radio 5 live film review show treats podcast listeners to exclusive content and regularly reports missives from listeners stocking up on episodes for long haul jaunts to Japan or Himalayan treks.

“We often get emails from listeners who have discovered us three weeks before and listened to all 300 episodes,” laughs Helen Zaltzman, whose Answer Me This podcast has won a clutch of awards. “Consuming large quantities in one sitting is one of the attractions.

“Video streaming sites were originally worried that putting whole series out at once would kill the sense of anticipation around new episodes. But if you look at Orange is the New Black, people are still dissecting it online months later.”

Radio listening figures remain healthy but the popularity of the traditional drama serial is in question. Podcasters are trying to re-invent the medium and have found their own darling – Welcome to Night Vale.

The deliberately weird drama is set in the fictional town of Night Vale and presented in the manner of a local news broadcast. First released in 2012, its popularity stepped up last year when fans took to Tumblr to share artwork of how they imagined characters, including a levitating cat, would look. It now enjoys more than 150,000 downloads an episode and the show's creators are amid a sold out European tour.

Meanwhile, Zombie podcast We're Alive has enchanted a legion of fans keen to have their brains munched by its audio delights.

Amazon’s Audible, the established player in the online audiobooks market (which also began sponsoring Serial this week), is also making waves, commissioning original content on everything from naughty romance to crime dramas.

But is a Lovefilm-style audio model a commercially appealing proposition? “Audio is still cheaper for advertisers and if they see the success of Serial, they may be tempted in,” says Deegan. “In the US, listeners are also used to stations asking for donations to support high quality speech radio.” Indeed, podcast network Radiotopia is steaming towards success in a $650,000 Kickstarter campaign to release a raft of shows including an edition of The Truth by Groundhog Day screenwriter Danny Rubin.

The radio industry has its ear pressed to the speaker attempting to disseminate the impact of Serial, but one question hangs heaviest in the air, who did kill Hae Min Lee?