In West Cork, it’s simply known as ‘the murder’. In 1996 French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier is found dead near her holiday home. There are no witnesses and no known motive. The police suspect one man in this community but they can’t make a charge stick and he refuses to leave, becoming the embodiment of everyone's unsettled nerves. Reported and hosted by Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey.
West Cork has been named an Apple Podcasts Series Essential.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Journalist Jonathan R. Davies interviews an unnamed witness about their experiences, offering a firsthand account of significant events.
18 Sept 2025
Trailer
This episode explores the murder of a Frenchwoman and its impact on a rural Irish community.
14 May 2021
14. He Sees Sophie Everywhere
Host Sam Bungey explores the baffling trial of an Englishman accused of murder in Ireland, with the absent defendant and lack of defense highlighting the central role of Sophie.
29 Mar 2021
1: Blow-ins
Journalist Sam Bungey explores how the arrival of 'blow-ins' transformed West Cork before a shocking murder irrevocably altered its idyllic image in this interview.
29 Mar 2021
2: The Back of Beyond
Detective Sam and Jennifer investigate a mysterious murder in a remote Irish community, uncovering unsettling truths about safety and belonging.
29 Mar 2021
3: Sophie Bouniol
This episode explores the life and tragic death of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier through the eyes of those who knew her best.
29 Mar 2021
4: Killer Among Us
Investigative journalist Patrick McDonald explores how the community of Schull grapples with suspicion and fear after a shocking murder, revealing the unsettling atmosphere that grips the town.
29 Mar 2021
5: A Good Suspect
Journalists Sam Biddle and Jennifer Jones investigate a suspect's behavior over six weeks following a notorious murder case.
29 Mar 2021
6: The Englishman
Investigative journalists Sam and Jennifer explore the suspect's history and diaries, revealing his insecurities and desperation to save himself in this interview.
29 Mar 2021
7: The Arrest
In "The Arrest," Detective Inspector Jim O'Sullivan interviews a key witness about the apprehension and interrogation of the prime suspect in the West Cork case.
29 Mar 2021
8: The Game Is On
After the guards fail to get a confession, a game of cat and mouse ensues; the guards need more evidence, but worry that they are being outsmarted. In this episode, secret recordings of the guards give an insight into the lengths they were willing to go to ensnare their suspect—planting spies, using wires—to little success.
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29 Mar 2021
9: The Moonshine Effect
After the arrest is made public in West Cork, the town is terrified, convinced there is a murderer next-door. And yet, the suspect remains. It seems everyone has a theory, a story about the suspects’ strangeness, from the plausible to the absurd: that he is a sexual predator, he wanders the countryside alone, howling, driven to madness by the full moon. As it turns out, however, some if the craziest rumors were coming from an unlikely source: the suspect himself.
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29 Mar 2021
10: Shanghaied
Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder is big news in Ireland—so big that the suspect takes the newspapers to court for defamation, intending to clear his name with the public. But it backfires spectacularly when the newspapers round up angry locals to testify, air secret diaries, and reveal the suspects’ long history as a domestic abuser.
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29 Mar 2021
11: Enemy #1
After the defamation trial, no one understands why the suspect is still a free man. But the case against him is quickly unraveling; there’s a new, seasoned lawyer, trouble with a key witnesses’ story, and questions about the legitimacy of the guards’ investigation.
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29 Mar 2021
12: Loose Ends
So if the guards’ chief suspect didn’t kill Sophie, who did? Theories abound: a ‘French Connection,’ a murderous horse, a misidentified man in a long black coat. There are promising leads that seem to have gone unpursued by the police, and the distinct impression that the case wasn’t nearly as strong as it originally seemed to be.
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29 Mar 2021
13: An Intimate Conviction
While the case has reached a stalemate in Ireland, a parallel investigation in France--pushed along by Sophie’s family--is moving forward. The suspect finds himself confronted with new charges, the community grapples with the case, and Sophie’s son, just 15 when his mother was murdered, shares a pint in his mother’s favourite pub in West Cork with the last known person who saw her alive.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
1,186 ratings
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