Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, Matthew McNulty, Bebe Massey, Taraq Al-Jeddal, Christine Bottomley, Esh Alladi, Emma Cunniffe, Kymberley Cochrane, Lula Marsh, Jessica Bellamy.
The rise in popularity in the true crime podcast is extraordinary and revealing.
Such revelations suggest much about the society we live in, and once where the murder mystery drama on television was seen as the preserve of the armchair detective pitting their wits against a writer who understands the genre as if they themselves were culpable of the crime committed, now the listener is rapt with attention as they look for the clues that might save their own life if they were plunged into a situation where their life might be in danger.
It’s no longer about the why for many, the truth of the fictional detective’s puzzle, now it is about saving the who, and that in itself is admirable; it may lack the conviction of the history of the detective tale, but it does add an element of reality to the writing which informs and educates instead of titillates and stimulates the ‘little grey cells’.
Whilst not within the true crime genre, Cath Staincliffe’s Undercover–Close To Home slides neatly into the aural sculpture designed thanks to the way the three part audio play impresses itself on the mind of the attentive listener.
Close To Home, the fear that someone within your family will be the one that ends your life, the one person to whom promised to keep you safe from harm as the world turns, male or female, something inside snaps and intimacy becomes a burden, love turns to hatred, and then it becomes about Time, the spectre of deceit in which the person murdered remains hidden as the murderer hopes the trail eventually goes cold, forgotten, lost to Time.
The sense of deceit is a way conversation when an undercover officer is placed within the family unit that remains, the sting of getting close, in this case by Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Grace, to the identity of the killer.
Cath Staincliffe’s insightful vision is commendable, for as the play progresses, as the tempers flare, the idea of edging close to true crime becomes evident, the fear of retribution is overwhelming, and the tense standoff between Grace and the killer slowly boils to a crescendo that is worthy of such a tale, but which also has that passion of narration which gives the listener no chance to settle. Like any decent true crime podcast, a piece of radio theatre must build to its ultimate end.
The deceit of the stranger in the house putting on a show of falsehood is contentious, one that can destroy a case if not handled with sensitivity. It is with a measurable success that Undercover–Close To Home validates the means taken to supply a decent production.
Ian D. Hall