Redhanded

Not many of us need convincing that Sesame Street is good; the Muppets have been chaotic TV icons for more than 50 years. But what not many people know is just how much good it did.Not just unmissable TV, but a revolutionary, massive-scale outreach program. One that used ad-land tactics and groundbreaking psychological research, to reset the balance of educational privilege – and teach disadvantaged, inner-city kids how to read. It’s a sunny day. We’re sweeping the clouds away. This is the ShortHand, sponsored by the letter ‘S’.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

With 2026 bringing widespread anti-government protests to Iran, and the government’s brutal crackdowns leading to thousands of people killed and arrested, we’re rereleasing our coverage on the current regime – and how we got here – through the lens of Mahsa Amini’s murder.--On 19 May 2024, Ebrahim Raisi – “The Butcher of Tehran” and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran – died in a helicopter crash. Immediately, theories of who had killed him and why, swept the worlds’ media.But while his passing inspired this episode, we’re also going to look at his many thousands of victims – and in particular how his actions led to the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. It was a single death which sparked protests that challenged the mullahs of Iran like never before.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

In 2000, Christine Lundy and her seven-year-old daughter Amber were brutally hacked to death in their New Zealand home. Their husband and father, Mark Lundy, had a seemingly watertight alibi: he was over 90 miles away.But that didn’t stop the New Zealand courts from convicting him. Twice.With a controversial case built on junk science, shifting timelines, and a microscopic speck of what prosecutors called ‘brain tissue’ (but might have just been lunch), the Lundy saga was New Zealand’s answer to Making a Murderer.Was an innocent man wrongfully convicted? Or did the police catch a killer who thought he’d pulled off the perfect crime?Watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/kO84-yv9GCA--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

‘Anal seepage’ is one of the many potential risks to the consumer due to seafood fraud, a multi-layered conspiracy that goes as deep as the Mariana Trench.The stats speak for themselves: if you’re in the UK, there’s a 55% chance that the fish you’re eating has been deliberately mislabeled. In the US, 120 samples of ‘Red Snapper’ were tested, and only 7 turned out to be the real thing.Clearly there’s something fishy going on.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

When Luigi Mangione was charged as the UnitedHealthcare shooter – it changed everything. The public knew this was a political act, but Luigi was not the crackpot vigilante many had pictured. He had no clear personal link to UnitedHealthcare (or CEO Brian Thompson) – and he had everything to lose. To many, he became a certified, revolutionary, anti-capitalist heartthrob.But there’s also a lot more to Mangione than the selfless martyr with chiselled abs. In our concluding part, we take a deeper look at Mangione’s life: his privileged upbringing, world travels, and the innermost thoughts shared in his notebook – which reveal how a charming, idealistic tech bro with the world at his feet, turned his thoughts to murder.Watch this episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNXJAQTDEVU--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

One of the most powerful people in one of the most powerful organizations in the world, Shelly Miscavige, hasn't been seen in public in almost two decades. In the world of Scientology, Shelly was practically an apostle. Yet, since her relationship with her husband – the leader of The Church of Scientology, David Miscavige – fell apart, she has never been seen again.Where is Shelly Miscavige? Why is she so dangerous to The Church of Scientology? And does she know that today is her 65th birthday?--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

Our 2026 listener survey is here – if you have 5 minutes to help inform the next year of RedHanded, we'd love to know your thoughts! https://forms.gle/jNhKVqtdyqoyF3ey9--Three words, written on bullet casings, instantly changed the New York City shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson from a senseless inner-city attack, into one of the most polarising, unique and culturally important events in modern memory.In part one of our coverage of the Luigi Mangione story, we run through the entire breakneck timeline of those first five days: the nationwide manhunt, the growing cultural phenomenon, and the arrest – where police said they unmasked the killer, and his manifesto, for the first time. And then, the madness that followed: when detached, meme-led internet thirst met one of the most febrile political discussions in the modern US.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

Imagine a building as tall as the Empire State Building, that stretches for more than 100km through the Saudi Arabian desert. Inside are nine million people – with robot maids and a giant fake moon – living in self-sufficient pods where everything they need is a five-minute walk away.It’s part of NEOM, a futuristic megacity complex, which the Saudi government has already started building. And if you believe the PR, it’ll be a car-free, carbon-free, utopian existence – the most equitable and sustainable society in human history. But will it happen? And what is the financial (and human) cost? For our first ShortHand back in 2026, we’re looking at the most ambitious and controversial building project ever: The Line.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

When the son of Mormon family vlogger Ruby Franke turned up bound, emaciated and apparently covered in blood – it horrified the police, the internet and Franke’s millions of followers.The uber-strict brand of parenting advice she preached on her YouTube channel, “8 Passengers”, had been drawing online criticism for years. But even her loudest detractors couldn’t know how despicable and unhinged her punishments had grown. That is, until a diary, found among evidence of torture in a windowless basement, revealed the depths of her abuse to the world.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

As RedHanded takes a festive pause, we've picked two of our favourite Patreon Bonus episodes from 2025. To get a full-length, bonus episode of RedHanded every month (plus weekly video episodes of Under the Duvet and much more besides) head to Patreon.com/redhanded and sign up. Or, head to patreon.com/redhanded/gift to buy a membership for someone else!--Remember that time a bunch of wristband-wielding Western teens went on a mission to save the world from a megalomaniac Ugandan warlord with an army of literal children in his ranks?Well, back in 2012, American filmmaker Jason Russell was determined to make the whole world know Joseph Kony's name.Featuring one of the first YouTube videos to ever go viral, cringey musical numbers, unhinged memes and a big old splash of charitable scammery, in this week's bonus episode we're unravelling the bizarre story of a social media campaign that virtue-signalled too close to the sun – and ended up crashing and burning.--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube -

As RedHanded takes a festive pause, we've picked two of our favourite Patreon Bonus episodes from 2025. To get a full-length, bonus episode of RedHanded every month (plus weekly video episodes of Under the Duvet and much more besides) head to Patreon.com/redhanded and sign up. Or, head to patreon.com/redhanded/gift to buy a membership for someone else!--When Santa Claus robbed the First National Bank in Cisco, Texas, two days before Christmas 1929 – it was just the beginning of a wilder-than-fiction festive tale.What followed was a calamitous string of bungled carjackings, high-speed chases, oil-field shootouts, a trail of dead and injured townsfolk, and mishaps aplenty – all under a hail of gunfire from the entire town of Cisco, who in true Texas fashion were all armed to the teeth, and desperate to be the one to nail Santa…--Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art

The important bits: At the end of this year we'll no longer be a Wondery show. New ShortHand and early-release episodes will no longer appear in Wondery+ and Amazon Music subscriber feeds after 29th December.The good news is that ShortHand will be free for everyone and living its best life on the main RedHanded feed!If you're reading this, you're already on our main feed and don't need to go anywhere. See you in 2026!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

OJ Simpson wasn’t black, “he was OJ”. That was the narrative OJ had pushed his entire career… right up until he found himself in the dock for killing his ex-wife and a waiter. Then suddenly OJ Simpson was practically MLK himself.Last week in our first part on “The Juice”, we told you how OJ Simpson killed Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. In Part Two, we’re going to tell you how he went to trial, with all of the evidence stacked against him – and, with the help of the “dream team”, still got away with murder.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Orenthal James Simpson, aka “OJ”, aka “The Juice”: the single most famous man in American sporting history. By the early 90s he had not only established himself as the greatest American Football player who’d ever lived – but he had also transcended sport, turning himself into a charismatic advertising machine and national icon.However, in June 1994, it all fell apart – when he killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman in cold blood, leaving a trail of evidence and eventually going on a highly televised (but actually pretty slow) car chase. But somehow, he got away with it. Welcome to the most American thing since apple pie: the life of OJ Simpson, and his unquestionable guilt.  Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at http

In May 1937, a chic young woman entered an empty Paris Métro carriage. Less than a minute later, she was discovered bleeding to death with a dagger in her neck.It’s a locked-room whodunnit that has bamboozled the French public for almost a century.The murder of Laetitia Toureaux unravelled her dizzying double (and triple) lives as a factory worker by day, nightclub siren by night – and a glamorous undercover spy tangled up in the deadliest politics of 1930s France…The case still remains officially unsolved: but can we solve it? Step aboard and join us as we try to crack this shadowy Parisian mystery. Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Add together a narcissistic gold-digger, a gullible gym bro and a police department with a flair for theatrics, and what do you get? The Dalia Dippolito saga.She thought she’d hired a hitman to kill her husband. Instead, she ended up starring in a viral sting complete with a staged crime scene, hidden cameras, and the world’s least convincing crocodile tears. This week, we unpack the wild story of Dalia Dippolito – the wannabe black widow who fell for her own web of lies.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious woke up in a pool of his girlfriend’s blood, most people thought they knew the score. Sid & Nancy were famous across the world: the ultimate dysfunctional, smack-addicted punk power couple – and their reckless lifestyle was bound to end in tragedy.But they were far from the only people in Room 100 of the infamous Chelsea Hotel that night. With a building full of shady characters coming and going; thousands of dollars in cash nowhere to be found; an endless list of dangerous enemies with a lot to gain; and enough drugs to make a blue whale see god: it’s the rock’n’roll mystery that just won’t quit.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In our final episode on the murder of Robert Wone, we examine the most shocking autopsy we’ve ever come across. Complete with what they found on and inside Robert…Which together with the nightmarish sex toys discovered in the DC townhouse, painted a new and even more bizarre picture of what took place just before Robert’s death.And it’s time to lay out what we really think happened that night.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just 79 minutes after Robert Wone arrived at the fancy Washington DC townhouse of his College pal, 911 received a call that he was dead.Was it a drug-fuelled gay orgy gone wrong? A horrific rape and murder? An opportunistic burglar? The scene, Robert’s injuries, the surviving residents’ stories – nothing added up…In part one, we introduce strait-laced lawyer Robert Wone – and hear from the other men in the apartment that night: a messy throuple, with a romantic dynamic as changeable as their alibis.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For our second Halloween special we’ve teamed up with I Could Murder A Podcast for a super-spooky fancy dress edition of RedHaunted recorded in a magician’s house. So, join us by the hearth for tales of faceless ghosts, disappearing babies, and “wet maps of Africa” on the front of a man’s trousers.For the full spooktacular experience, head to youtube.com/@redhandedthepod from the 30th of October.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.