The Trial

Since its inception in October 2022, The Trial has opened the doors to courtrooms across the UK, providing real-time reporting on significant criminal cases with a focus on accuracy, insight, and public interest. Listened to over 30 million times, the podcast has firmly established itself as a trusted source of information and analysis, with a commitment to informing and educating the public about the British legal system, and demystifying the courts.

For our submission, we wanted to highlight the episode of The Trial: Brianna Ghey, featuring Esther Ghey, Brianna’s mother. In “Esther Ghey: A Mother’s Story,” Esther gave her first in-depth media interview, recorded shortly before the anniversary of Brianna’s death. Over the course of the interview, she bravely shared her experience of loss and her ongoing fight to champion online safety and mental health initiatives for young people. The interview exemplifies The Trial’s commitment to humanising complex cases, while respecting the dignity of those impacted. Esther’s courage and advocacy was deeply moving, inspiring further public support for her online safety petition.

Since covering both Lucy Letby’s criminal trials, The Trial is now following the Thirlwall Inquiry which is investigating the failings at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Lucy Letby worked.

The Trial also followed the complex and distressing case of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, accused of killing their daughter Victoria when they went on the run. Our entry “Something’s Not Right” demonstrates how our format sensitively covers difficult stories in detail and using voice actors brings listeners closer to what’s happening in court. In later episodes the use of voice actors also helped to humanise one of the defendants who gave evidence. 
Beyond real-life courtrooms, The Trial has innovated by playing out a fictional case against the missing Lord Lucan, presenting brand new evidence in the case. We enlisted the help of two eminent barristers and effectively put Lord Lucan on trial. Our entry The Verdict demonstrates not just the innovation of this series but how it engaged a huge audience who became our “jury”.

We’ve also recently expanded internationally with a series on the Diddy scandal and we’ll be following the Erin Patterson mushroom poisoning case in Australia next year.

Through expert interviews, courtroom reenactments, and commentary from criminologists, legal experts and witnesses, The Trial is dedicated to public education on the justice process. Our approach is to inform without sensationalism, sparking awareness and interest in how the legal system operates, while highlighting the broader impacts of legal decisions on important societal issues. Our interview with Esther Ghey exemplified that mission in action.