July 26, 2024 – It’s officially the summertime and, for fans of true crime, unsolved mysteries and surprising twists, it’s time to turn on the out of offices and tune into some gripping podcasts.

Now boasting more than 20 separate series on BBC Sounds, the award-winning Assume Northing leaves all pre-conceptions at the door as the team explores subjects as diverse as murder, cyber-attacks, art heists and bank robberies. There are even two hauntings.

All made in Northern Ireland, these podcasts have engrossed listeners locally and throughout the UK.

Among some of the previous series which have received national recognition and awards are: Assume Nothing: Rape Trial, which examines how rape trials are heard in Northern Ireland; Assume Nothing: Did The Right Man Hang?, which looks into how the wrong person may have been executed for a murder over 90 years ago; and Assume Nothing: The Handler – A Matter Of Life And Death, which immerses listeners in a dramatized memoir of a Special Branch officer operating at the outset of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Some of the latest series available to download now are:

Assume Nothing: How to Kill A Government in 14 Days

Writer Glenn Patterson explores how, in May 1974, a tiny band of loyalists and unionists over 14 days staged a strike that paralysed Northern Ireland and slid it into anarchy.

Then 12-years-old, Glenn lived through these events, which took place in the context of The Troubles which, by 1974, had already seen 1,000 dead.

Now, 50 years on, he wants to understand what happened. These events cast a long shadow. The Ulster Workers’ Council stoppage had culminated in the overthrow of Northern Ireland’s democratically elected devolved government – then just five-months-old, and the first power-sharing administration ever in the Northern Ireland’s history.

Assume Nothing: Femicide– Eight Steps To Stop A Murder

Presented by Donegal-born actor Amybeth McNulty (Anne With An E, Stranger Things) this eight-part series investigates why women continue to be murdered and what could be done to prevent it.

Professor of public protection Dr Jane Monckton-Smith believes there are eight key stages that can ultimately result in domestic homicide, and that if recognised, murders can be prevented. Her work is being used to train English police to help officers to identify opportunities to intervene and save the lives of vulnerable victims.

The series examines what women can spot in order to keep themselves safe from attack and whether recognising a pattern of behaviour could save lives.

Assume Nothing: Oil In The Blood

When Belfast-born sound mixer Peter Devlin leaves a recorder running overnight while working on a movie in Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills – he captures a bizarre, unexplained sound.

After hours of silence, there is a sudden crash, two loud bangs and then …. silence. As the cast and crew take turns to listen, Peter begins to learn more about the dark history of Greystone Mansion – and discovers that two men died in the house in mysterious circumstances on 16 February, 1929.

At the time of their deaths, the men were embroiled in a huge corruption and bribery scandal that went to the very top of the United States government. A scandal that stretched from the Wild West to the Whitehouse, involving a multimillionaire oil tycoon whose father fled the famine in Ireland, a corrupt Senator – and a black bag stuffed with $100,000 in cash.

In this eight-part series, Peter Devlin and producer Conor McKay trace the extraordinary rags to riches story of Edward L Doheny – a penniless prospector who built a vast oil empire – to try and uncover the story of what really happened on that fateful night in Greystone mansion.

Watch out for more great Assume Nothing episodes in the coming weeks, including Assume Nothing: Murder In The Stables, Assume Nothing: Murder On The Speckled Hill, and Assume Nothing: A Belfast Haunting Of Beechmount.

All the Assume Nothing podcasts are available on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds can be accessed through the website at www.bbc.co.uk/sounds on your computer, laptop, phone or tablet device.

There’s also a dedicated BBC Sounds app for mobile and tablet devices. And you can listen to live stations and podcasts through BBC Sounds on your internet radio device.

Andy Martin, Executive Editor, Documentaries, Drama & Comedy, BBC Northern Ireland says: “Ninety percent of the people who listen to Assume Nothing are not even from Northern Ireland. We are so pleased that stories from here are making waves on a national and international stage, particularly in an increasingly crowded podcast market. These are factual, audio thrillers, designed to entertain but also to tell people about this place and its people. They’re novels for the ears, but all of it really happened.”