Hi - I'm Pete.
I'm an award-winning audio producer, specialising in longform documentary series.
Drawing on over a decade of experience, I can help to transform bare-bones ideas into gripping, multichapter stories.
I know how to coach first-time presenters; how to get great interview tape; how to script emotionally nuanced episodes; and ultimately how to deliver a beautiful final cut (and an even more beautiful final_v5_use_this_one cut).
Scroll down for recent examples of my work, and testimonials from the people who commissioned it.
And you can drop me a line here.
An eight-episode series presented by the Economist's Russia editor, Arkady Ostrovsky, asking why the war in Ukraine began - and how it might end.
I was one of two lead audio producers on the project, and made a wide range of contributions - from helping to shape the story arc of the series, to scripting
individual chapters, to many long days (and a few nights) cutting episodes together in Descript and Audition.
The result was a career highlight, and has been listed as one of the top podcasts of 2023 by Vulture, Audible, Apple Podcasts, and the New Yorker.
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They say:
"Pete is a delight to work with: infectiously curious and considerate with a wonderful instinct for what works in audio. But his real superpower is a clarity of thought and purpose that enables him to wriggle through a story tangle just when the task has begun to seem impossible - a journalistic Houdini."
- John Shields, Director of Podcasts, The Economist
A five-episode series following the Telegraph's investigations team as they reported on a child abuse scandal within the Jehovah's Witness organisation.
I was the lead producer on the series, and embedded with the reporters for six months, recording their process from the first emailed tip-off through to the end of their investigation. Due to the legally sensitive nature of the topic, and the trust placed in us by our interviewees - many of whom were survivors of abuse - this series required particularly high levels of care and attention. I'm enormously proud of what we achieved.
Call Bethel was named News Podcast of the Year at the 2023 Press Awards.
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They say:
"Pete was excellent to work with. He is very constructive and calm - a real blessing when the creative process becomes fraught - and taught me a huge amount about turning a journalistic investigation into a story that works over many episodes.
He is reliably sensitive and empathetic when dealing with abuse victims, and was extremely thorough in his research. The extra details and prompts he flagged before each interview (e.g., looking up the music that was topping the chats at the time of the events being recalled) helped us to capture human moments and telling details I would never have thought of otherwise.
I really hope to work with Pete again!"
- Katherine Rushton, Deputy Investigations Editor, The Telegraph
One of the things I really treasure about my job is that it gives me the chance to work alongside journalists who are at the peak of their craft. That feeling was particularly strong on this podcast-style audiobook project for Pushkin, in which the veteran New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall explored the connections between three women who all found themselves on the outside of the British royal family. I was the lead producer on the audiobook; and my work included research, interview production, music supervision and editing.
UnRoyal is available on Audible and Spotify.
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They say:
"Pete is the consummate professional. He dug into the topic of these three royal wives with aplomb, was highly communicative, highly adept, organized and made or beat deadlines. I am excited to work with him again!"
- Kerri Kolen, VP of Audiobooks, Pushkin Industries
A seven-episode series in which The Economist's Bartleby columnist, Andrew Palmer, goes on a quest to dispel business school
groupthink - and discover what we actually know about good management.
I was brought on at the beginning of this project to answer the question "What would a podcast about management from The Economist sound like?" - and spent two
months developing the idea from a blank sheet of paper to a fully-fledged series brief, before embarking on production.
Boss Class was the flagship series at the launch of the Economist's new audio subscription tier, Podcasts+.
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They say:
"Boss Class was my first real experience of podcasts, and Pete was the perfect guide. As well as his technical skills, he is highly curious, full of good ideas and advice, an excellent writer and a thoroughly likeable person. He’d be an asset to any team."
-Andrew Palmer, Britain editor and Bartleby columnist, The Economist
I wrote, produced and presented this six-part series for the Telegraph, to mark the tenth anniversary of the paper breaking the MPs' expenses story.
Its aim was to offer listeners a gripping, personable, behind-the-scenes account of one of the biggest newspaper scoops in recent history; introducing them to the team who brought the scandal to light - duck house and all.
Spotify listed Expenses as one of their top podcasts of 2019, and it also got a very nice write up from Caroline Crampton in Hot Pod.
extra curricular
I grew up in the East Anglian flatlands, but these days I live on a houseboat in London.
If I could only bring one podcast episode to a desert island it would be This American Life's Rest Stop.
(Please do tell me yours.)
Thanks to my parents, Irish immigrants who came to the UK in the late 1960s, I have an EU passport, an enduring love of the Beatles, and a healthy appetite for craic.
And the production gig of which I'm most proud has nothing to do with audio: I've helped to raise two wonderful boys.