Intrigue
BBC Radio 4
Next On Intrigue: Ransom Man.What would you do if your deepest secrets were held to ransom? Jenny Kleeman investigates one of the world's most audacious hacks.
When a shocking data breach takes place at a Finnish psychotherapy service, the nation’s darkest secrets are held to ransom by a faceless hacker. He calls himself ransom_man.
Award-winning journalist Jenny Kleeman (BBC Radio 4’s The Gift) traces the story from the first extortion email to the hunt to find the hacker and bring him to justice.
We all have some thoughts we’d never write down. Now, just imagine that a criminal had got hold of those thoughts, and was threatening to publish them for all the world to see if you didn’t pay to stop him. Jenny finds out what kind of person is prepared to terrorise a nation like this, and the lengths people will go to fight back. On the way, she’ll discover that the origins of this dark crime stretch far beyond Finland. Her extraordinary quest leads her around the world and to unexpected places, bringing Jenny face to face with victims, investigators, police and notorious hackers themselves.
It is a cautionary tale about something that could happen anywhere, to any of us, again and again.
Jenny will learn just how vulnerable our deepest secrets can be – and the enormous power that hackers now have to hold our inner lives to ransom.Intrigue: 'Jaw-dropping', 'gripping', 'bingeable,' 'thrilling' - dramatic true stories and investigations that reveal how the world really works.
When a shocking data breach takes place at a Finnish psychotherapy service, the nation’s darkest secrets are held to ransom by a faceless hacker. He calls himself ransom_man.
Award-winning journalist Jenny Kleeman (BBC Radio 4’s The Gift) traces the story from the first extortion email to the hunt to find the hacker and bring him to justice.
We all have some thoughts we’d never write down. Now, just imagine that a criminal had got hold of those thoughts, and was threatening to publish them for all the world to see if you didn’t pay to stop him. Jenny finds out what kind of person is prepared to terrorise a nation like this, and the lengths people will go to fight back. On the way, she’ll discover that the origins of this dark crime stretch far beyond Finland. Her extraordinary quest leads her around the world and to unexpected places, bringing Jenny face to face with victims, investigators, police and notorious hackers themselves.
It is a cautionary tale about something that could happen anywhere, to any of us, again and again.
Jenny will learn just how vulnerable our deepest secrets can be – and the enormous power that hackers now have to hold our inner lives to ransom.Intrigue: 'Jaw-dropping', 'gripping', 'bingeable,' 'thrilling' - dramatic true stories and investigations that reveal how the world really works.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 16, 2019 • 14min
Tunnel 29: 8. The Messenger
I said "ok, I'll do it”. Ellen, Mimmo's girlfriend, agrees to play a dangerous role.Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 17min
Tunnel 29: 7. The Interrogation
“That’s the first time I saw her again.” Wolfdieter's show trial begins. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 15min
Tunnel 29: 6. The Gun
“And then my interrogation began.” The escape operation unravels. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 16min
Tunnel 29: 5. The Trap
“We had no chance to be together.” The diggers hatch a new plan, unaware the Stasi are onto them. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 14min
Tunnel 29: 4. The Death Strip
“If we could hear them, they could hear us.” The diggers reach the terrifying death strip.Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 15min
Tunnel 29: 3. The Deal
“We have a tunnel.” The diggers are on the hunt for money and make an unlikely alliance.Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 15min
Tunnel 29: 2. The Spy
“I choose the codename Fred.” A hairdresser becomes a Stasi spy.Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29
Oct 16, 2019 • 19min
Tunnel 29: 1. The Escape
“I didn’t want to be a part of this new world.” Joachim is on holiday in East Germany when he hears Berlin is to be divided. The wall is built and the escapes begin. Joachim has to decide whether he'll be among them. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. It’s also the story of the Stasi spy who betrays the tunnel, the American TV network which funds it and the love that develops between refugees who find freedom together. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt
#tunnel29
Oct 11, 2019 • 2min
Tunnel 29: Trailer
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena MerrimanSound design: Eloise WhitmoreEditor: Richard Knight#tunnel29
Oct 15, 2018 • 20min
The Ratline: Bonus: Stephen Fry meets Philippe Sands
In a bonus episode of Intrigue: The Ratline, Stephen Fry interviews Philippe Sands in front of an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in London. They discuss a range of issues brought up by the series including historical responsibility and the nature of evil. Plus as a special extra, there is a full version of The Ratline theme music by Catrin Finch and Sekou Keita.
