BOTTLE

How The BBC Lost Its Nerve Probing Organised Crime

The BBC has pulled a podcast on Nottingham organised crime fearing threats from a local crime boss to its staff and contributors, The Upsetter can reveal.

The popular series Gangster was set to feature the notorious Gunn brothers and the even bigger Robert Dawes, a drug trafficker known as the El Chapo of Europe.

Midlands-based investigative reporter, Carl Fellstrom, who’s been threatened by both, was the consultant with all the knowledge and contacts.

He convinced local victims to give interviews only to learn the series has been shelved after the BBC spoke to David Gunn and got the willies.

The decision has left the reporter and his sources feeling betrayed by the broadcaster’s curious lack of bottle given the subject matter. Or, as Fellstrom puts it:

“What’s the point of a programme called Gangster if you don’t feature ones that are actually active and still having an impact on communities. There is a duty of care but the actions of the BBC will merely embolden organised crime in the area to think their word is the law.”

The point, it seems Carl, is to make true crime podcasts that give audiences the illusion of knowledge and jeopardy that elicits social media vomit along the lines of, ‘You’re so brave’.

This inside story of what happened when the BBC’s much-vaunted series went to Nottingham comes as the team behind Gangster are nominated for “outstanding investigative reporting” and “best serialised podcast” at the True Crime Awards, the latest industry love in celebrating the, er, telling of victims’ stories.