The final episode of the crime drama “Cold Tape” has been released.
The series is a murder mystery surrounding the unknown death of 33-year-old scientist Andrew Fairfield, played by Dave Hearn, and is played by a remote research base in Antarctica.
Listeners will be joining DCI Tessa McCallister, played by Polly Flame.
With a unique form of twist, listeners were invited to solve the murder for a chance to win a prize of £10,000.
There were 84 episodes reflecting live police investigations, including victims' diaries, police interviews, phone calls and evidence, which ultimately released the murder plan remotely.
Listeners needed sharp ears to find and connect clues to resolve the murder. The murderer was revealed in a long-standing final police interview file.
Karen Byford of Bury-St-Edmonds was a lucky winner and was drawn randomly from the correct competition entry. She was crowned “SuperThru of 2025” at this year's Crimcon London in June, winning a £10,000 prize.
The Freeturn series was created in collaboration with a variety of experts to develop scripts and storylines that include police officers, polar adventurers and researchers, ensuring authentic experience in Antarctica life and police investigation procedures. The series was written by Alexis Zegerman and Jonathan Myerson.
Cold tapes have been downloaded more than 400,000 times, with thousands registered to claim suspects.
There were listeners from over 50 countries. The podcast was also licensed to Townnessy+, with early access to global subscribers for the first 83 episodes, and IAG was featured on British Airways and Aer Lingus Flights.
“We've been working hard to get the most out of our business,” said Gemma Batterby, Managing Director of Free Turn.
“We decided to create both cold tapes to not only innovate the true crime genre creatively and freely, but also explore the possibilities of new revenue models. We are excited about Cold Tape 2 and are actively exploring other innovative formats that bring to the market.”
All episodes of Cold Tape are available on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple.
