This viral podcast hit is based, almost unbelievably, on a true story. Married couple Karen Whitehouse and Helen McLaughlin were troubled by the grubby mystery of a poo that appeared on the floor of the ladies’ toilets during their wedding onboard an Amsterdam boat. Eventually they decided to try and get to the bottom of it (so to speak) by enlisting a friend, fledgling ‘private detective’ Lauren Kilby with her recently issued online certificate in crime-busting. And so the trio sets out to find the culprit.

Satirising true crime while simultaneously leaning on the genre’s suspense structure creates the kind of alchemical podcast magic that could never be confected. Kilby throws herself into the role of poo detective with the gusto of DCI Jane Tennison. She purchases lie detector hardware from Amazon, interrogates wedding guests with increasing aggression, and at one point even schleps to the zoo to try to establish if the poo could have been left by a rogue Japanese macaque.
Experts in forensics are called and no one escapes suspicion; not even the brides’ families. By taking its ridiculous task so seriously, this 13-part series results in a listen that is weirdly fascinating as well as hilarious.
Episodes available here.