The true crime podcaster from Nottinghamshire who started out in a wardrobe

Grace Cordell has had more than one million overall downloads on podcasts.

As business start-ups go, Grace Cordell began hers in a wardrobe. But we all have to start somewhere - and Grace found the small space provided the perfect sound quality for her now hugely popular true crime podcast.

She began in a wardrobe in Carlton - and since then she has moved, with her microphone, to four or five different homes over the last three years. Now living in Ruddington, her podcasts began when she lost all her work during the pandemic and spent her days listening to true crime podcasts.

Now she hosts REDRUM, which has grown from its mere beginnings to having 25,000 YouTube subscribers, nd 60,000 monthly downloads/listens on podcasting. And more than one million overall downloads on podcasts.

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She tells Nottinghamshire Live: "I have always been fascinated by true crime - I used to take my mum's magazines and they always had 1 or 2 true crime stories in them. When the pandemic hit, I lost all my work and would spend my days listening to true crime podcasts... which is when I decided to start REDRUM.

"There are loads of true crime pods out there, but, a lot of the time, the victim's story gets lost and the perpetrator's comes to the forefront. Understandable, as the source material is so often focused on the sensationalised nature of the perpetrator. REDRUM focuses on the victims, whilst still detailing the story of the case in its entirety".

Grace, 29, studied an MA in theatre directing at Birkbeck, University of London..

What have been the most interesting podcasts she has done? Grace says: "I covered Denise Huskins (episode 63), who is a woman who was kidnapped at gunpoint and abducted for days, only to be returned to her childhood home many many miles away.

"The police didn't believe her story and came out publically, accusing her of lying. Her and her boyfriend had to fight hard to get justice, but they eventually found the perpetrator and were proved to be innocent victims in all of this. The details of the case, and the police errors that allowed it to get so far, and the misjustice caused, was quite incredible and harrowing to research."

Nottingham cases she featured include the murder of Jacqui Bartlam, who was killed by her 14-year-old Daniel Bartlam in the quiet suburban street of Georgia Drive, Redhill. On Easter Monday 2011, he acted out a script he had written on his computer – about a boy called Daniel Bartlam who bludgeoned his mother to death.

He was found guilty of murder by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court - and handed a life sentence a with a minimum term to serve of 16 years before parole.

When asked how podcasting works - and is it costly, and where would someone start? Grace says: "All you really need is a good idea. Flesh that out, plan, plan, plan, and then recording. I'd say only start to upgrade your set up as you start to earn money.

"The one thing you'd need to get started is a microphone - they start at about £30 and can be really expensive. Mine was £100 and I've had it since I started podcasting 3 years ago.

"I taught myself to edit and to add music (you can find loads of brilliant free music online, just check licensing rules per track. And the final step is to get yourself a podcasting host site - simple and easy instructions on how to, online."

In the future she plans podcast collaborations with other true crime podcasters and advocate for the victims of these horrific crimes. She hopes her story will be inspirational to anyone, especially young women, out there who are thinking of taking up a creative endeavour, but are worried because of failing or lack of money.

"Only now, three years into it, am I able to work full-time at podcasting - but I spent a lot of time working in my spare time, and from whichever of my friends' wardrobes I could borrow that weekend."

Listen to Grace on Spotify here