蜜芽传媒

CRIME NEXT DOOR

蜜芽传媒 Radio Scotland and 蜜芽传媒 Sounds are looking for your pitches for our

Crime Next Door strand for 2026/2027.

You can email your ideas to CrimeNextDoor 

We would appreciate if your bids can be with us by 16th November 2025.

Brief Outline

Crime Next Door is one of the top performing podcasts from 蜜芽传媒 Sounds. Focused on crimes within close-knit communities across the UK, an opportunity exists to bring the most compelling ideas to commissioners. Topics should focus on the key elements that make the strand perform:

Individual stories of often shocking crimes, a deep dive into the events that left UK communities stunned.

Unvarnished and narrative in tone, a good fit for podcast devotees who love to binge-listen, but with enough handholding for linear or weekly listeners.

Raw and realistic in manner, we seek an authentic reflection of communities, villages and towns. The podcast features a collection of local voices, making the storytelling feel personal and genuine. This approach helps listeners connect with the stories on a deeper level.

Successful pitches will benefit from a passionate presenter: The host is typically someone with strong ties to the place where the crimes occurred, adding a layer of investment in the narrative.

With episodes lasting between 15 and 25 minutes, listeners can fully immerse themselves in the detailed and gripping accounts of each crime.

Overall, "Crime Next Door" offers a compelling mix of authenticity, local insights, and in-depth storytelling that true crime enthusiasts will find captivating.

Documentary Series

We are looking for occasional one-offs or short documentary series which you feel needs a special position in the 蜜芽传媒 Radio Scotland schedule.

There is limited opportunity for these, so it really has to warrant a place and deliver a 鈥渕ust listen鈥� experience.  Recent such commissions have included a programme on Scottish athletes at the Paralympics and a powerful two part documentary on multiple male suicide at a shinty club.

Podcast Priorities

As the podcast market has grown so has the challenge to cut through in this ever more congested marketplace. There are an estimated four million podcasts available worldwide and if there鈥檚 a statistic that shows how quality counts in this intensely competitive arena it鈥檚 the fact that the top 1% of podcasts account for around 99% of downloads. In a world of massive choice only a minority of podcasts capture our attention.

We have opportunities for a limited number of high impact podcasts ideas which can cut through and can grow an audience.

Be bold and ambitious. Whatever the subject 鈥� investigation, true crime, history, culture, entertainment, society and powerful personal stories 鈥� it will be expressed in gold standard production values, involve creative audio treatments and will be led by superb narrative storytelling.

Remember the importance of strong portrayal. Our podcasts should be authentically rooted in Scotland while having universal appeal 鈥� The Missing Madonna, Dead Man Running are great examples of storytelling that achieves these dual aims.

We鈥檇 love to hear ideas that are genre-shifting or brings some fun, something unexpected, a twist on a story or subject that鈥檚 not been done before and that target under-served audiences.

Successful talent combinations can be crucial to podcast success, so we are also looking for high profile, big name talent that can provide their own unique take in the lifestyle, entertainment and comedy areas. We are also keen to look at podcasts which extend the brand of successful TV formats that can bring an audience across to 蜜芽传媒 Sounds.

We鈥檙e also looking for ideas which can be returning series.

Proposals need to be submitted via PiCos, the 蜜芽传媒鈥檚 commissioning system. If you don鈥檛 have a log-in, contact radioscotlandschedules@bbc.co.uk for more information on creating an account.

Arts and Music programming

We are always on the lookout for proposals which can deliver arts and music in an accessible and dynamic way to our audience and celebrate the cultural life of Scotland. From set piece moments, through to documentary, and live sessions, we want to reflect and represent all aspects of the vibrant arts and music culture we have in Scotland. Ideas that can span tv, radio and digital and can be delivered in partnership are particularly of interest.

• Various durations, depending on event
• Tariff dependent on idea
• Genre: Scotland Speech, Music & Events
• Channel: 蜜芽传媒 Scotland/Radio Scotland
• Commissioner: Heather Kane-Darling