The Trial of Russell Brand

By The TimesSociety & Culture Documentary News True Crime

The Trial of Russell Brand episodes

March 12 The final battle | Last Man Standing Ep 10
Manveen and Anthony travel to a maximum security prison in Iraq to meet a man who could hold the answer to what happened to John Cantlie. But will this ISIS prisoner reveal all? Or will Cantlie’s death remain a mystery?

Hosts: Manveen Rana and Anthony Loyd, special correspondent, The Times.
Further reading: Anthony Loyd: my hunt for the forgotten Isis hostage John Cantlie
Watch: Hostage on BBC iPlayer.
Clips: BBC.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
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42 min
March 05 New leads | Last Man Standing Ep 9
Four years on from the launch of their podcast, Anthony and Manveen are back exploring the kidnap and disappearance of British photojournalist John Cantlie by ISIS in Syria, after a mysterious listener gets in contact.

Hosts: Manveen Rana and Anthony Loyd, special correspondent, The Times.
Watch: Hostage on BBC iPlayer.
Clips: BBC.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30 min
November 03, 2025 The Answers? | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 6
With his investigation reaching its final stages, Mario is given a name…

And could a change in the law mean a breakthrough for the Enniskillen families?

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
40 min
October 30, 2025 The Politician | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 5
Mario speaks with a former IRA volunteer, who tells him something shocking about the bombing.

Deep into his investigation, Mario is left asking how high up did the decision to authorise the killing go?

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
36 min
October 27, 2025 The Dirty War | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 4
Mario searches for the ‘man with the limp’, allegedly seen in the Reading Rooms the night before the bombing.

He learns the man is also linked to another terror plot.

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
40 min
October 22, 2025 The Borderlands | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 3
Mario asks why the IRA targeted Enniskillen and discovers police may have known about suspected IRA figures seen nearby, on the night before the killing happened.

He also goes searching for the man accused of being the ‘mastermind’ behind the bomb.

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
44 min
October 19, 2025 The Aftermath | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 2
Mario asks if enough was done to stop the bombing, and finds evidence of police failures to properly investigate.

And the alleged mastermind is dramatically named.

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
33 min
October 19, 2025 The Atrocity | The Poppy Day Bomb Ep. 1
On Remembrance Sunday in 1987, an IRA bomb went off in Mario Ledwith’s hometown of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, killing 11 people.

A lifetime later, Mario returns to investigate the silence surrounding that terror attack.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence that you may find upsetting.

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.

Get in touch: [email protected]
[email protected]

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This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
31 min
October 14, 2025 Introducing: The Poppy Day Bomb
On Remembrance Sunday in November, 1987 an IRA bomb exploded in the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen, killing 11 people.

No one has ever been charged.

The Times’s Mario Ledwith returns to his hometown, asking who carried out these bloody murders, how the authorities failed to properly investigate, and why a silence continues to surround what happened?

Begins Monday 20th October.

Host: Mario Ledwith, news reporter at The Times.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
3 min
October 09, 2025 A conversation on suicide prevention | Poison bonus Ep.
Why does suicide occur? Why is there still a stigma around it? And how can we work to prevent people from taking their own lives?

If you or someone you know has been affected or needs to talk to someone, please get in contact with the Samaritans online https://www.samaritans.org/ or call them for free on their 24-hour helpline 116 123.

Guest: Professor Rory O'Connor, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow.
Author of 'When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It'

Host: James Beal, Social Affairs Editor, The Times.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
43 min

About The Trial of Russell Brand

From the publisher's feed

Award-winning investigative and true crime podcasts.

The Trial of Russell Brand is season 14 of Times Investigates.

From war zones to suburban homes, pursuing…

brutal criminals and cult leaders, our podcasts go further than any other to uncover the truth.

In season one, war correspondent Anthony Loyd investigates the fate of his colleague John Cantlie, who was kidnapped in Syria by Islamic State.

In season two, crime correspondent John Simpson breaks down the wall of silence surrounding the killing of 14-year-old Corey Junior Davis

In season three Berlin correspondent Oliver Moody uncovers the story of Hans Globke, the Nazi bureaucrat who laid the legal basis for the Holocaust - and helped build the modern German state

In season four, columnist David Aaronovitch follows the trail of charm and deception left by businessman Lex Greensill through the corridors of power in Britain

In season five, special correspondent Emily Dugan asks whether the wrong man was sent to prison for a brutal attack on a mother of two

In season six, Middle East correspondent Louise Callaghan steps into the weird world of ‘kittens’, ‘lions’, and televangelism surrounding a cult leader

In season seven, journalists Brenna Daldorph and David Aaronovitch explore the dark past behind some of Britain’s wealthiest stately homes

In season eight, feature writer Andrew Billen exposes a very British scandal at the world-famous university college, Christ Church, Oxford

In season nine, David Aaranovitch steps into the online world of Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group using the Covid pandemic as a recruiting tool

In season ten, journalists Peter Gillman and Emanuele Midolo investigate the death of one of our own, David Holden, the reporter whose killing became a Cold War whodunnit

In season 11, social affairs editor James Beal follows a trail leading from a quiet British town to frozen Canada, where he discovers a man allegedly selling death online

In season 12, reporter Mario Ledwith returns to his hometown in Northern Ireland, seeking answers about the bloody 1987 Remembrance Sunday attack

In season 13, The Sunday Times’s Insight team investigates how Nigel Farage came to depend upon a crypto enthusiast, gambler and convicted fraudster

In season 14, journalists Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace join Luke Jones to report daily from the trial of Russell Brand

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