Mugshots with Michael Crick

How much do we really know about the people who make the headlines? In a provocative new podcast series, the acclaimed BBC, C4 and Newsnight journalist Michael Crick delves into the backgrounds of major figures ranging from Paul Dacre to Angela Rayner to Gary Neville. He talks to the people who know them best to find out what shaped them, what they believe… and what they really want.

Episodes

A taster of CRIME SCENE, our new podcast – Episode 1: Guns of London

April 30, 2025 • 12 mins

Because you enjoyed Mugshots, we thought you might be interested in a bite-sized sample of CRIME SCENE, the brand new podcast from Podmasters. Every week ex-Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and former Mirror editor Alison Phillips lift the lid on how criminal investigations really work. In our debut episode: The horrific shooting of an innocent nine-year-old girl in Dalston in 2024 laid bare bitter rivalries between Lond...

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Podmasters presents a brand new podcast - This Is Not A Drill

November 30, 2023 • 10 mins

From the producers of Mugshots - a brand new show looking at the tectonic shifts in global power occurring right before our eyes, called This Is Not A Drill. Presented by ex-BBC News host and Washington correspondent Gavin Esler with a series of co-hosts including Oz Katerji, This Is Not A Drill takes a look at the expanding threats to global stability from Ukraine to the Middle East to China; exploring the dangers, corruption, c...

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Sir Keir Starmer: Labour’s ruthless rescuer

April 10, 2023 • 30 mins

The man who could be Britain’s next prime minister remains a mystery to many. What drives Keir Starmer? Where does that combination of bland amiability and ruthlessness towards the Left come from? And can he prove that competence matters more than charisma? Michael Crick talks to two people who knew Starmer well – Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy and barrister Prof Bill Bowring – to delve into his past in the legal profession. W...

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe: The mogul who wants Man United

April 3, 2023 • 31 mins

“Rich, powerful, ruthless…” Once named Britain’s richest man, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe built his chemical empire Ineos from nothing into a £65bn business. He’s aggressively pro-Brexit and pro-fracking, he humiliated the Unite union in the Grangemouth industrial dispute… and now he wants to buy Manchester United. What drove the lad from a Failsworth council estate to become so powerful? How did he turn Ineos into a giant? And what ...

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Ron DeSantis: The man to stop Trump?

March 26, 2023 • 31 mins

Once a Trump loyalist, Florida’s combative governor Ron DeSantis is now favourite to take the Republican Presidential nomination from his former patron. Running on an explosive cocktail of culture war issues and hardline governance, he could become the first Florida-born President. But what does DeSantis want? Could he defeat Trump and then Biden? And would a President DeSantis abandon Ukraine? Michael Crick talks to Peter Feaman, ...

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Kemi Badenoch: The Strange Rise of A Tory Secret Weapon

March 20, 2023 • 37 mins

A rising star among young Tories, Kemi Badenoch has made a name on the Tory Right as an aggressive culture warrior by stoking controversy on race and trans rights. But she’s a mystery too, an ambitious player with powerful sponsors. How did Badenoch’s Nigerian childhood, her time in banking, and her early days in the Tory Party shape her? And where is Kemi Badenoch going next? Michael Crick talks to Tory insiders – peers Stephen Gr...

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Vladimir Putin: The Sphinx of the Kremlin

March 5, 2023 • 46 mins

Michael Crick profiles the people who shape our world. This time: Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has unmasked him as a paranoid autocrat and a probable war criminal. But for much of his career the Russian leader was an unreadable mystery. The West thought it could manipulate this former KGB/FSB officer… yet he ended up manipulating them. What made Putin so effective? And where will his brutal adventures end? Michael Crick loo...

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Jürgen Klopp: The seven year hitch

February 26, 2023 • 53 mins

Michael Crick profiles the people who shape our world. This time: Charismatic, relentless and sometimes eccentric, manager Jürgen Klopp transformed Liverpool FC’s fortunes, bringing the club its first title in 30 years and restoring it reputation. But the team has stumbled badly this season. Can Klopp turn it around? Michael Crick explores the mind and motivation of one of football’s greatest managers with journalists James Pearce ...

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Angela Rayner: Labour’s working class hero

February 19, 2023 • 41 mins

Michael Crick profiles the people who shape our world. This time: Angela Rayner overcame horrendous poverty to become Labour’s Deputy Leader and now a potential future Prime Minister. Pregnant and thrown out of the family home at 16, she nevertheless fought her way to the Labour’s commanding heights. What built Angela Rayner’s formidable personality? And what does she want? Michael Crick speaks to friends and colleagues from her ea...

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Paul Dacre: Dark Lord of the Mail

February 12, 2023 • 46 mins

In-depth profiles from award-winning journalist Michael Crick, formerly of Newsnight, Panorama and Channel 4. In our first edition: Few newspaper editors wield as much power as the Daily Mail’s Paul Dacre. Feared and courted by politicians, he has imposed his singular vision of Britain on successive governments – while sometimes stretching the law in pursuit of justice. What makes Dacre tick? What does he want? And how might this e...

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Mugshots Trailer

January 31, 2023 • 2 mins

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