
About our audio
Slow news stories designed for listening
Tortoise’s podcasts are focused on untold stories. In the face of information overload, incremental news-gathering and perishable scoops, we take time to investigate human stories that we think offer a deeper, longer-lasting understanding of what’s happening in the world.
The Slow Newscast
Our biggest stories, given voice

Detained in Modi’s India: A British citizen’s story
20 March 2023
32 minutes
For five years a British citizen has been locked up in an Indian prison, and the British state hasn’t been willing – or not strong enough – to stand up for him.
More episodes
new series
Real Money
The hunt for Tether’s billions
For a year, Tortoise has been investigating Tether, a cryptocurrency which underpins the entire crypto market. It’s raised suspicions about its trustworthiness by refusing ever to be audited or publish accounts. How could a company managing more than $70 billion get away with that?
Multi-part series
Pitch us a story
If you have an idea for a podcast, we’d love to hear from you.
More series

The News Meeting
Each week, three Tortoise journalists pitch the story they think should lead the news.

The Backstory
with Andrew Neil
A series of in-depth conversations with people in power and those trying to influence them, hosted by the UK’s most formidable interviewer.

Visible Women
with Caroline Criado Perez
How can we fix the gender data gap – and build a world that works for everyone?

The Second Elizabethan Age
with Richard Lambert
A reflection on the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II and how society changed under her rule.

Life, changing
Early childhood in the UK is radically different to how it used to be. Across three cities, we’re speaking to parents and children about their lives, worries, and dreams, and – with the help of the Nuffield Foundation – uncovering the hidden stories behind these seismic changes.

Inside the energy transition
Is a fair transition to 100 per cent clean energy the stuff of dreams, or a genuine possibility?
Editor’s Voicemail
What’s on Tortoise editor James Harding’s mind.
Sensemaker Daily
One story every day to make sense of the world.
tHINKIN WITH JAMES HARDING
The China Problem
“What we’re going to do in this series of podcasts is take a big idea and look for the moments that shine a light on it.”
Audio essays
Matthew d’Ancona investigates
Over the last two years, Tortoise editor Matthew d’Ancona has been investigating the UK government and, among other things, its management – and mismanagement – of the pandemic.

Downfall: twenty days that did for Rishi Sunak
How did Rishi Sunak go from one of the most popular members of the government to one of the least in a matter of days? Matthew d’Ancona pieces together what happened

Retreat from Kabul: 11 days in August – Part I
As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, and Western troops and desperate Afghans scrambled to leave, Britain found itself frozen out of decision making and incapable of influencing events. It was a stark illustration of the UK’s status, made worse by catastrophic misjudgements at the top of government

The second couple
After Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ wedding, there are now two powerful married couples in Number 10. Meet the other: Munira and Dougie

March of the Mutants
Covid may be losing the vaccine battle. But, as the virus evolves fast to form new variants, the war is most definitely not over
The people vs Harvey Proctor
Pariah
What lessons does the story of Harvey Proctor – the twice-disgraced former Conservative MP with extreme anti-immigration views – hold about the way society deems it acceptable to treat those who we cast as hate figures?
a four-part podcast series
Hidden homicides
How many women are killed – but not counted?
Left to die
When Islamist insurgents attacked a town in Mozambique in March, civilians and foreign contractors raced to a local hotel for safety. Over three agonising days, they waited for a rescue. But no one came.
My Mother’s murder
An investigation by Paul Caruana Galizia into the life and killing of his mother, the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.