Super Heroes and Crooked Cops
Image: Erik McLean
Super heroes and crooked cops are the themes of the two documentary podcasts to add to your listening library.
Comic fans will love The Phantom Never Dies, an original Nova podcast presented by pop-culture expert and award-winning author Maria Lewis - a best-selling author, screenwriter and film curator.
Last year The Phantom Never Dies won Best Audio – Non-Fiction at the 55th Annual Australian Writers Guild Awards (The AWGIEs), which recognises the outstanding achievements of Australian screen and stage writers and their contribution to Australia’s cultural landscape.
Over six, half-hour episodes, listeners will experience a forgotten comic book hero, from his origins as the archetype ‘white saviour’ to a character that came to represent duty, morality and all that is good in humankind.
The second documentary series on our list is: Sirens are Coming, one of the winners for Best Documentary at The Australian Podcast Awards 2022.
Set in 1950s Queensland during a time described as ‘God-fearing, morally upstanding, and tough on crime’, a murky world of gambling, drugs and brothels is kept in check by three crooked cops known as The Rat Pack.
Bribery, extortion and the city's underground brothels are a focus in the series where millions of illicit dollars keep the wheels turning for the crooked cops. Except, the same women who helped build this criminal empire, are also the ones to help break it.
Host, Matthew Condon, exposes institutional crime and corruption of the Queensland police force through the stories of five courageous sex workers who dared to take them on.
Listen to the first episode of the series above or check out the full series of The Phantom Never Dies and Sirens are Coming.
