Praise for ‘West Cork’
“Possibly the best ever true crime podcast.”
It knocked me out like no podcast since S-Town. A masterpiece. Listen.
— Patrick Radden Keefe, staff writer, The New Yorker
“Brilliantly reported and compellingly constructed”
“West Cork is the new Serial. It may even be better”
“Engrossing.”
— Wired
“True Crime classic”
“A nuanced, insightful examination.”
“A masterpiece of storytelling.”
“Seminal series … a work of forensic journalism stamped with integrity.”
“An utterly unforgettable testament to the power of good reporting.”
— Stuff NZ
“An intricately reported masterpiece of content and form”
— Audible, winner True Crime book of the year 2018
“The hosts beautifully communicate how a tragedy can impact a town and its people in devastating ways”
— Time
“Superb”
More West Cork Reviews
“Voyeuristic or gratuitous are not adjectives you could ever apply to West Cork. Impeccably researched and scrupulously even-handed”
“A show can attempt to justify its value apart from the core facts, beats, and twists of the crime in question. To that end, West Cork is intermittently sublime. The podcast is vastly more soulful than so many of its peers, in large part by functioning as an exploration of how a tragedy, mixed with spectacle, can redefine and consume the terms of a place, a person, and a time.”
“This series is important because of the way it handles the tragedy. Characters are brought in to tell us who Sophie was besides simply being an infamous victim. With a deep exploration into local and national policing, and an empathic look into how a small town in Ireland ticks, it has everything you need for a top notch investigative series.”
“A stellar true crime tale, West Cork stands out for the thoughtfulness of its approach and the strength of its milieu. This is a show that’s uncommonly connected to the substance of the place that’s been rocked by the crime”
Not since Serial had a true crime podcast generated a buzz like it … Refusing to reveal Bailey as a suspect early on, instead offering a calm and well-paced approach to their storytelling and returning Sophie to the centre of the stage, the podcast series was a breath of fresh air. It was also an engine that powered a surge of interest in Sophie Toscan du Plantier all around the world.
“Across the podcast, the breadth of research and interviews is impressive ... weaving a narrative that encourages binge-listening ... An eye opening study of an investigation. For many Irish listeners, West Cork will be the first time a podcast approaches a local story with the same depth of stories in Maryland (Serial season one) or Alabama (S-Town).”
“A humane look at the impact this crime had on a community, how it changed the area – a weather-beaten idyll – and how an incredible narrative developed around it”
— Time Out
“It is a high bar for a piece of journalism to tell the insider something new, forcing him to rearrange the architecture of a murder case which has found coordinates in his mind across twenty years. Audible’s West Cork has so much original reporting, such depth of curiosity, and such breathtaking access to key players and opposing opinions, that it clears the bar. It becomes a strange kind of magnum opus – the cultural equivalent to a Book of Evidence. Indeed, it acts as a stand-in for a crucial legal document which, as yet, has never been presented in court.”
“Very few series (like STown, for instance) have transcended the true crime genre to present a riveting picture of humanity. West Cork manages to do so. In narrating the story of Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s death, Forde and Bungey are really telling the story of a community, of a place, and its people. West Cork makes for a fascinating listen.”
© 2021 Yarn Podcasting Ltd
