Amateur Detectives Invited to Solve Antarctic Murder Mystery for £10,000 Prize
Amateur detectives are being offered an unprecedented opportunity to delve into the mysteries of Antarctica’s Winter Over through the innovative podcast, Cold Tapes. This unique chance involves solving a murder mystery with a £10,000 prize at stake for the winner.
Set in the daunting and isolated environment of a remote Antarctic research base, the Cold Tapes Podcast centres around the enigmatic death of a 33-year-old scientist. Listeners are transformed into detectives, piecing together clues from the audio recordings left by Bowers Wilson, to uncover the truth behind Andrew Fairfield’s mysterious demise.
Gemma Batterby from Free Turn explains, “Cold Tapes is more than just a passport to excitement, it’s also the chance to be rewarded for your investigative abilities. With over 20 hours of immersive audio content, Cold Tapes offers mystery enthusiasts and competitive sleuths alike a tough, compelling and entertaining experience. After listening and interrogating the alibis, motives and opportunities of each of the crew on the base listeners can then head to www.coldtapes.com where they can confront the difficult decision of selecting their prime suspect from a lineup of sixteen for a chance to win £10,000 grand prize, but make no mistake solving the crime is difficult and will require genuine detective ability.”
Jon Hamm, CEO of Free Turn, shares his inspiration, “As a child I was obsessed by Kit Williams and his book “Masquerade” and have wanted to do something similar ever since…it became clear that the way that audio can grab your imagination was perfect for this concept and that’s how Cold Tapes was born.”
He continues, “Kit Williams is quoted as saying that when he was a child treasure hunts had bad puzzles and treasure that wasn’t worth finding. Which is why he created a real treasure, of gold, buried it in the ground and then painted real puzzles to lead people to it. Inspired by Williams’ pursuit of genuine treasure, we debated crafting a golden object like a golden magnifying glass, but with the realities of life for many people we decided that £10,000 cash was the ultimate prize people wanted. We did however want to honour the challenge of unravelling the mystery, hence our partnership with Crime Con for the prestigious Super Sleuth of the Year Award—a prize that definitely promises undeniable bragging rights.”
Free Turn has partnered with Spotify for distribution, aiming to reshape the audio entertainment industry with this pioneering project.
Jon Monsour, Spotify’s UK Head of Partnerships, states, “Opportunities to work on truly innovative, fresh, new ideas come around very rarely which is why working with Free Turn on their new audio project COLD TAPES was an absolute no brainer. Their ambition to create new, ground-breaking formats matches with our approach to taking a different path and I can’t wait to see the results.”
Sian Williams, the show’s Director and Producer at Free Turn, adds: “For anyone who loves nothing more than a new binge-able true-crime podcast, and simultaneously fancies their chance at solving a complex and intriguing crime, COLD TAPES is for them. We’ve brought the authenticity of a real life police investigation together with the unique experience and soundscape of an Antarctic research base to create something immersive and totally addictive.”
Gemma Batterby concludes, “COLD TAPES delivers an experience that will have you glued to your earbuds. This is more than a podcast; it’s a cerebral challenge and an intricate puzzle, an opportunity for listeners to showcase their analytical prowess and potentially emerge as the sharpest amateur detective, claiming both bragging rights and a substantial cash prize. We set out to create the audio equivalent of the Blair Witch project and hopefully we’ve managed to do that.”
The series is crafted with inputs from various professionals including police officers and polar adventurers, ensuring an authentic and intricately detailed narrative. Cold Tapes is now accessible for free on major audio platforms including Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Audible, with new episodes released weekly.