Radio 4 podcast produced by Bafflegab Productions, available on BBC Sounds

A forensic paranormal investigation, sprinkled generously with dramatic re-enactments of a stranger-than-fiction true story.

I’ll be honest, I’m a sceptic. Not about ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night, but about drama-documentaries. Construct them badly, and you’ll confuse rather than enlighten, and jar your audience out of any narrative your dramatic interludes try to weave.

Danny Robins, straight off the bat, presents this in such an ordinary way that I wondered if I was listening to the right podcast. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, yet this one seems to have spooked him. After a straightforward introduction of the subject matter – the still unexplained ‘cold case’ of an alleged poltergeist haunting in Battersea in 1956 – we meet our cast of characters. Shirley Hitchings, played by Dafne Keen, is the relatable focus of the unwanted sprit’s attention and the ever-impressive Toby Jones is the disarming ‘ghost hunter’ Harold Chibbett.

Add in real-life experts on both sides of the sceptic-believer spectrum for a balanced scrutiny of the strange goings on at 63 Wycliffe Road, and soon it invoked a police procedural, as the bold claim is made that this 65 year old cold case will be solved over the course of this 8-episode series.

Why should I care? It’s old news, right? Almost before I realised, I found that by the end of the episode I was hungry for the next to begin, which is always a good sign. Far from jarring the listener out of the drama, when the action paused for forensic analysis of the events portrayed, it simply felt diligent. I believe I can trust the experts introduced to me to break the mystery down into bite-sized chunks so it can finally be digested after all this time. It stopped me from needing to Google it, anyway: another good sign where documentaries are concerned.

Verdict: Is it a documentary? Is it a drama? No, it’s an atmospheric and balanced presentation of a story that has me hooked already, in just under 30 minutes. 8/10

Claire Smith