Grave Matters

Death — we all have to face it, but nobody wants to talk about it. Anthony Levin and Nadine J. Cohen are back to explore the unexpected, the eerie, and the deeply human sides of life’s final chapter. Grave Matters is the SBS podcast about death, dying, and the people helping us better understand what happens at the end of the road.

American broadcaster Diane Sawyer once said that a good journalist follows their curiosity like a cat. If the adage is true, then Ray Martin has nine lives. At age 79, and with five Gold Logies on the mantle, Ray has finally turned his attention to what he says is the best question there is: death. He joins us on this special bonus episode of Grave Matters to discuss his new series for SBS, Ray Martin: The Last Goodbye.

We're back with a special bonus episode to cap off the series. We’ve spent the season exploring the myriad ways we respond to people dying and what it means to have a good death. But what does this mean for our pets? It turns out losing a furry friend can be just as challenging as losing a human one.

You may know him as the singer songwriter behind worldwide hits including Catch My Disease and We’re All In This Together. But there’s more to Ben Lee than clever lyrics and catchy hooks. Why is he on a podcast about death and dying? Good question.

Would you live your life differently if you thought humanity was doomed? You don’t have to be a nihilist to wonder whether we can survive the climate crisis. We find hope where it seems there is none and examine the idea of dying well, together. We face facts with climate policy expert and communicator David Spratt, and get a virtual hug from psychotherapist Carolyn Baker.

We inherit many things from our families - heirlooms, habits, humour. But what about psychological wounds? In this episode, we discuss epigenetics, intergenerational trauma and how collective memory helps us work through catastrophic loss with Linda Thai, a therapist and former child refugee.

In this Golden Age of Innovation, we’re accustomed to making room for new technologies in daily life. But what about when we die? It turns out that breakthroughs like AI, empathic robots and ‘smart’ memorial plaques are disrupting the deathcare sector too, from how we support end-of-life to the way we memorialise. Dr Hannah Gould joins us to explain her research into DeathTech and new traditions and technologies of death rites.

You know how in TV crime shows, the police can always pinpoint a body’s exact time of death? Well, it seems we’ve been lied to. Forensic science hasn’t advanced quite far enough for such accuracy. But one facility in Sydney is working hard to change this. In this episode we meet Dr Maiken Ueland, Director of the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) - Australia's first facility to study the decomposition of human corpses.

How has coronavirus changed our experience and perceptions of dying? We look at some of the socio-political implications of the pandemic and whether it will have lasting impacts on how we mourn and dispose of the dead.

We introduced you to the concept of death doulas in the first episode of Grave Matters. But what do they actually do? We asked Sarah Tolmie, consummate death doula and possibly the nicest woman in the world, about the specifics of doula work.