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Rating
4.7from
This podcast has
77 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
BBC Radio 5 LiveExplicit
No
Date created
2021/04/13
Latest episode
2025/11/10
Average duration
28 min.
Release period
18 days
Description
New Series: Gangster Presents: Sex, Drugs & Cell Block Parties. A secret and dangerous affair. An out-of-control addiction. It ends with the smashing of the UK's biggest prison smuggling gang, but it all begins with a love story... Journalist Amber Haque untangles what happens when mental health nurse Amy Hatfield meets convicted criminal Joe Whittingham. Her investigation leads into a world of blackmail and manipulation, where you never quite know who to trust or who's watching.
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Check latest episodes from Gangster podcast
Gangster Presents... Sex, Drugs & Cell Block Parties
2025/11/10
The story of the biggest prison smuggling plot ever busted in the UK - and the love story at the heart of it.
Journalist Amber Haque untangles what happens when mental health nurse Amy Hatfield meets convicted criminal Joe Whittingham. Her investigation leads into a world of blackmail and manipulation, where you never quite know who to trust or who's watching.
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley and Andy Fell
Story and music consultant: Emma Weatherill
Development by: Rob Byrne, Rhiannon Nevada and Emma Shaw
Production management: Gaelan Davis-Connolly and Debbie Wadell
Executive producer: Joe Kent
Commissioning producer: Sam Proffitt
Commissioning executive: Louise Kattenhorn and Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning editor: Richard Maddock
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
1. When Amy Met Joe
2025/11/14
The last thing mental health nurse Amy expected to encounter when she took a job at Lindholme prison was someone offering romance.
Then she met Joe - cheeky, brimming with charisma and a career criminal.
But surely she knows better than to listen to his relentless attempts to charm her….
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
2. The Boy From Bradford
2025/11/21
Amy is risking it all for a relationship with career criminal Joe - but who is the boy from Bradford she’s falling in love with.
Host Amber Haque delves deep into his past and jumps down the rabbit hole of #prisontok as she attempts to make sense of the illicit affair and who’s really in control.
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Andy Fell
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
3. Just This Once
2025/11/28
Smuggle one package of drugs into prison for her boyfriend Joe and he’ll be able to pay off his debts. That’s what Amy needs to do and then she can concentrate on planning their future together, or so she thinks. It’s not long till he’ll be released and then they can have the proper relationship she dreams of.
Joe insists the smuggling is just a one-off, but will Amy do what he's asking?
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
4. Illegal Highs
2025/12/05
Highly-addictive, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle, Spice is running rampage through Britain’s prisons.
And Spice is the reason Amy finds Joe zombie-like in his cell, eyes rolled back in his head.
The reason, he’s in debt with other prisoners.
The reason he’s asking her to smuggle something in for him. Again.
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Andy Fell
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
5. “Love You”
2025/12/12
Amy knows this is the final run - just one more package of drugs to smuggle in, one more drop-off before Joe walks free and maybe they can leave crime behind.
But this time, someone is watching.
Will the couple stay loyal to each other, as a wider conspiracy begins to unravel?
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
6. Starcrossed Lovers
2025/12/19
Amy and Joe had been planning a future together, outside — but now they’re stuck behind bars, facing the consequences of their actions.
In this final episode, host Amber Haque unpicks how their story ends - and finds there’s still love, but also loss.
And for Amy, the question that lingers - was any of it ever real?
Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Story and music consultant: Emma Weatherill
Development by: Rob Byrne, Rhiannon Nevada and Emma Shaw
Production management: Gaelan Davis-Connolly and Debbie Wadell
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Commissioning producer: Sam Proffitt
Commissioning executive: Louise Kattenhorn and Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning editor: Richard Maddock
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Introducing Gangster: The Story of the Black Widow
2025/08/01
Livvy Haydock explores the extraordinary life of Linda Calvey, the woman they call "the Black Widow." She rose through the ranks of London’s criminal underworld to become the UK’s most notorious female gangster.
We follow her journey from humble beginnings in East London to time served in the infamous H Wing, alongside killers like Myra Hindley and Rose West.
It’s a story of love, loyalty, betrayal and murder, of a woman who fell for a bank robber and ended up leading a gang of her own.
Linda was a young mum living in the East End when her husband Mickey was shot dead by police during a robbery. After his death, she stepped into his world. What followed was a descent into armed robberies and organised crime, culminating in a killing that would result in a life sentence in prison.
She was nicknamed the Black Widow by a police officer, as all her husbands and lovers ended up either dead or behind bars.
Now 76, Linda tells her story in her own words. And for the first time her children, Melanie and Neil, speak out about the lasting consequences of her criminal past.
We also hear from detectives in the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad, aka The Sweeney, the men and women who were tasked with bringing criminals like Linda to justice.
This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 1. Spinning the Web
2025/08/08
Linda Welford was raised in London's East End in the 1960s; a tight and tough community with a reputation for a thriving criminal underworld, ruled with an iron fist by gangsters like the Kray twins.
One of nine children, Linda lived a sheltered life with her family in Stepney until she met armed robber Mickey Calvey. This was the so-called golden age of armed robbery and Mickey was making a fortune sticking up banks and Post Offices with a sawn-off shotgun.
When Mickey and Linda got married, she was allowed a front seat to Mickey's 'work,' as his gang begin planning robberies around their kitchen table. Not content with just making the teas, Linda starts to make suggestions and finds she has a taste for a life of crime.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 2. A Widow's Vow
2025/08/15
Linda, Mickey and the kids are living the high life when he agrees to take on a job with a new gang - a raid on a cash collection at a London supermarket just before Christmas.
As Linda waits at home, armed police are lying in wait outside the supermarket. When the police rush towards them, the rest of Mickey's team flee, leaving him alone on the crowded street clutching his weapon. He is shot dead.
When Linda hears of her husband's death something inside her snaps and at his graveside she makes a vow to provide for their two young kids by carrying on his "work" as an armed robber. But before she can get started, another man comes on the scene - someone altogether more deadly and dangerous.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 3. Cops and Robbers
2025/08/22
Linda discovers Ronnie's dark side as he lets slip a shocking secret about the day Mickey died.
She can't leave Ronnie, because he's too dangerous. But luckily for Linda, the police solve that problem for her - catching Ronnie red handed trying to pull off a million pound heist.
With Ronnie out of the way, Linda begins her mission to become an armed robber in an underworld ruled by men.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 4. The Two Minute Rule
2025/08/29
A partial fingerprint at the scene of a violent robbery puts the flying squad on Linda's trail. While they watch, she continues to live the high life funding by a spate of terrifying armed raids.
A team of officers recall the day they caught Linda red handed at yet another Post Office heist, and when Linda finds herself at the wrong end of the barrel of a gun, she knows her time is up.
But her time inside takes an unexpected turn, as she finds a life for herself inside Holloway.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 5. Spilt Milk
2025/09/05
After being released from prison, Linda's living the quiet life catching up on lost time with her two kids.
Trouble soon finds her again as Ronnie Cook's sentence also comes to an end. When Linda brings Ronnie home for a visit, the couple are confronted by a hitman and Linda's small kitchen is turned into a brutal murder scene.
But as police begin to question Linda, they discover that the 'The Black Widow' could have her boyfriend's blood on her hands in more ways than one.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
The Black Widow: 6. Til Death Do Us Part
2025/09/12
Linda spends the next 18 years behind bars with some of the UK's most notorious female killers. She shares stories of a life inside, a shock prison wedding and returning back to reality and a life on the straight and narrow.
With her criminal past behind her, Linda reflects on the effect of her crimes both on the victims, and on her two children left to grow up without their parents.
Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Kate West
Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover
Drama Writer: Paul Jones
Sound Design: Richard Hannaford
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna
Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham
Gangster Presents... Hooligans
2025/03/04
Former boxing champion and proud Evertonian Tony Bellew delves into the brutal world of football hooliganism. At its height in the 1970s and 1980s, it was labelled ‘the English Disease,’ a time when violence on the terraces was as much a part of the game as a half-time Bovril. Bellew hears from those who lived for the trouble, the men and women whose Saturdays weren’t complete without a brutal punch-up.
He speaks to the innocent victims caught up in the mayhem, the families of those who lost their lives at the hands of thugs, and the undercover police officers who risked everything to infiltrate some of England’s most notorious firms.
He also explores how government crackdowns, tougher laws, and the introduction of all-seater stadiums helped bring an end to widespread hooliganism.
Presenter: Tony Bellew
Series Producer: Emma Forde
Producer: Patrick Kiteley
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Development Producer: Holly Clemens
Production Co-ordinator: Ellie Dover
Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah Green
Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn
Editor and Executive Producer: Carl Johnston
Podcast reviews
Read Gangster podcast reviews
Cane-girl 2024/01/17
Gangster
Simply brilliant as binged entire podcast in 1 day. As an expat I’d forgotten about that time in Birmingham. BBC at it brilliance
manayunk wall 2025/06/19
what did you say?
I'm here listening to this podcast on the North Shore of Massachusetts and I can't understand one word that is being said by the criminals/ witnesses ...
oldjohnhall 2024/04/18
Pervert Behavior season 6
The presenter is simply awful. Stilted language, stupid opinions, grade A bootlicker.
Season 6 proves these dirty pigs act just as illegally as crim...
DC3008 2023/10/28
Excellent presentation and production
I have listened to all the Gangster series and everyone is an excellent listen. Livvy Haydock is a great presenter and interviewer, she really transpo...
Russell gawat 2023/03/13
Polished Performance
Sounds big budget because it is. When the BBC spend our money you can tell.
magaoingo 2023/02/13
Wow, Big Time Podcast
This is a high dollar production. Everything about it screams professional, the music, the voices, the interviews, everything. Quite remarkable. And b...
USAfisherman 2022/08/03
Fast paced drama
The story is intriguing and keeps the listener engaged. Adding more from the outside perspective of people who lived through it might add something mo...
Edna Millay 2022/11/01
Troubling
It is well enough made and certainly entertaining but herein lies the rub. There is a tone of breathless wonder in it which comes too close to the adm...
accevrbntngmh 2022/07/07
Top notch
Excellent fast paced podcast with just enough detail and production.
Pod Afficianodo 2022/02/02
Interesting
Interesting, a bit over-produced but well done.
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