“Possibly the best ever true crime podcast.”

— Louis Theroux

It knocked me out like no podcast since S-Town. A masterpiece. Listen.

— Patrick Radden Keefe, staff writer, The New Yorker

“Brilliantly reported and compellingly constructed”

— The Telegraph

“West Cork is the new Serial. It may even be better”

—  The Times

“Voyeuristic or gratuitous are not adjectives you could ever apply to West Cork, an investigation by British documentarian Jennifer Forde and her journalist husband Sam Bungey into the 1996 killing of French television producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier in a remote part of Ireland. Impeccably researched and scrupulously even-handed, the 13-part series features hours of in-depth interviews with practically everyone involved in the case – including the self-mythologising prime suspect.”

—  The Guardian

“Engrossing.”

— Wired

“Very few series (like STown, for instance) have transcended the true crime genre to present a riveting picture of humanity. West Cork manages to do so. In narrating the story of Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s death, Forde and Bungey are really telling the story of a community, of a place, and its people. West Cork makes for a fascinating listen.”

— First Post

“Superb … So brilliantly drew the different strands of the case together, as well as painting such a comprehensive picture of this place where so many people from elsewhere have decided to make their home … perfect end-point in terms of features on the Frenchwoman”

— The Irish Examiner

“Seminal series … a work of forensic journalism stamped with integrity.”

— The Sunday Times

“An utterly unforgettable testament to the power of good reporting.”

— Stuff NZ

“A humane look at the impact this crime had on a community, how it changed the area – a weather-beaten idyll – and how an incredible narrative developed around it”

— Time Out

“It is a high bar for a piece of journalism to tell the insider something new, forcing him to rearrange the architecture of a murder case which has found coordinates in his mind across twenty years. Audible’s West Cork has so much original reporting, such depth of curiosity, and such breathtaking access to key players and opposing opinions, that it clears the bar. It becomes a strange kind of magnum opus – the cultural equivalent to a Book of Evidence. Indeed, it acts as a stand-in for a crucial legal document which, as yet, has never been presented in court.”

— The Orchard

“An intricately reported masterpiece of content and form”

— Audible, winner True Crime book of the year 2018

“Across the podcast, the breadth of research and interviews is impressive ... weaving a narrative that encourages binge-listening ... An eye opening study of an investigation. For many Irish listeners, West Cork will be the first time a podcast approaches a local story with the same depth of stories in Maryland (Serial season one) or Alabama (S-Town).”

— The Irish Times

“West Cork creators, husband-and-wife team Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde, exhaustively investigated the case, uncovering troubling new information and presenting a full picture of Sophie’s life that the media ignored at the time.”

— Sydney Morning Herald

“True Crime classic”

— Crime Writers On

“The hosts beautifully communicate how a tragedy can impact a town and its people in devastating ways”

— Time

“A show can attempt to justify its value apart from the core facts, beats, and twists of the crime in question. To that end, West Cork is intermittently sublime. The podcast is vastly more soulful than so many of its peers, in large part by functioning as an exploration of how a tragedy, mixed with spectacle, can redefine and consume the terms of a place, a person, and a time.”

— New York magazine

“This series is important because of the way it handles the tragedy. Characters are brought in to tell us who Sophie was besides simply being an infamous victim. With a deep exploration into local and national policing, and an empathic look into how a small town in Ireland ticks, it has everything you need for a top notch investigative series.”

— The Guardian

“A stellar true crime tale … West Cork stands out for the thoughtfulness of its approach and the strength of its milieu. This is a show that’s uncommonly connected to the substance of the place that’s been rocked by the crime”

— Nick Quah, Vulture

Not since Serial had a true crime podcast generated a buzz like it … Refusing to reveal Bailey as a suspect early on, instead offering a calm and well-paced approach to their storytelling and returning Sophie to the centre of the stage, the podcast series was a breath of fresh air. It was also an engine that powered a surge of interest in Sophie Toscan du Plantier all around the world.

— Sunday Business Post

“A nuanced, insightful examination.”

— The Guardian

“A masterpiece of storytelling.”

—  The Pod Bible