I’d never listened to the Drunk Women Solving Crime podcast before rocking up at this Fringe show, but I will now.
I wasn’t alone; based on cheers and hoots, I was with the one-third of the audience for whom tonight’s recording was the first experience. As it happened, I hadn’t even heard of the podcast before the show’s premise caught my attention, and I booked my ticket.
We had some hardcore fans decked out in merch and eager to participate tonight. The audience flirted on the cusp of being great fun and overstepping the line. I would have liked to hear more from Hannah George, Catie Wilkins and Taylor Glenn. As it happens, fans shouted answers to the questions the panel had hoped to explore together, and while the crime solvers behind the desk could hear the calls over their prosecco and respond to them, not all of the audience could.
Drunk Women Solving Crimes are only at the Edinburgh Fringe festivals for ten days, so tonight was the last recording. This review is less about helping you decide whether you should see them in 2022 Edinburgh as it is for posterity or another later chance.
My tip: see them, but hope for a restrained audience.
Drunk Women Solving Crimes
Our guest was Rosie Halt of NonCensored, which means hearing how she was a victim of a crime. This is an ice-breaker before the drinking women tackle the historical crime and work out what might happen there.
We discovered that Rosie had been a victim of fraud on many occasions.
Good on Rosie for admitting to falling foul of trickers. Fraud seems a bit of a social taboo because, in hindsight, the victim always seems to have been easily played. Throughout the recording, Rosie demonstrates (even though the drink) a quick wit (and perhaps a roaming attention span), so clearly isn’t a dimwit to be fooled.
Then we moved on to the murder of Lord Darnley. Yes, this was a very cold case!
Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Quen of Scots, was murdered not far from where tonight Drunk Women Solving Crimes was recorded in 1567.
It was a gunpowder plot, with his lodgings for the night being blown up. However, in a twist, he was found outside the building and had been strangled.
Blackadder ultimately was executed for his death. Yes, Blackadder! It would be fascinating to find out whether or not this Blackadder was the inspiration for the TV series with Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Fry, Laurie et al.
The podcast works because one of the hosts has notes on the crime, and asks questions to which she knows the answer but encourages the others and guest Rosie to speculate, joke and investigate.
We can see and hear just how sharp these women are here. It’s also here that the audience would shout out. Sometimes these shouts were helpful, such as digging into Scottish history that the panel didn’t know, but sometimes with jokes that we couldn’t hear.
Who did kill Darnley? It probably wasn’t Blackadder, and the suspicion was on Mary.
Overall
Fun and educational in surprisingly equal measure, but I’m not sure all the episodes are so rooted in history. Even if Drunk Women Solving Crime usually focuses on more contemporary acts, I’d still be curious to give the podcast a whirl.
The loyalty of the fans, some of whom had been to more than one recording at the Fringe, some of whom had travelled across the country to be here, is a positive sign.
However, a bit more crowd control, just a splash, would have given the leading lights more space to shine.
Drunk Women Solving Crime
Summary
Sharp minds and alcohol-inspired thoughts tackle real-life mysteries with wit and insight. The Edinburgh Fringe run is over for 2022, but the podcast is undoubtedly worth checking out.
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