Listen and watch why podcasts have become rich TV fodder

If you’re having trouble getting through all the podcasts you’ve downloaded there’s a back-up plan at hand: just wait until they become television shows and then watch them. Having quietly taken root over the past few years, the television adaptation of the podcast, whether factual or fictional, has achieved launch trajectory this year. From the Netflix true crime series Sophie: A Murder in West Cork to Stan*’s medical thriller Dr Death, what we listen to increasingly informs what we watch.

Joshua Jackson stars in TV series Dr Death, which is based on the podcast of the same name.Credit:Scott McDermott/Peacock

When it comes to source material, the podcast really is the new book. There is a deluge of podcasts that have been optioned for TV translation over the past two years or served as direct inspiration, to the point where similar projects are now racing to air. Just like the rival asteroids-headed-for-Earth Hollywood blockbusters Armageddon and Deep Impact, there are two true crime series about the 1996 murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier, the subject of Audible’s 2018 hit podcast West Cork.

The 1996 murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier is the subject of Audible’s 2018 hit podcast West Cork and several TV documentaries, including Netflix’s Sophie: A Murder in West Cork.Credit:Netflix

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork has been a prominent success for Netflix, rescuing the streaming service from a slew of ill-judged and exploitative true crime documentaries. But when it debuted in June it was available in parallel with Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie, a personal exploration of the case by Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot) that delved into the town of Schull in Ireland’s south and the long-standing suspect, freelance journalist Ian Bailey.

Screening in Britain on Sky Crime, Murder at the Cottage is not yet available in Australia, but both true crime series have been praised for their detailed portrait of Toscan du Plantier, the community’s reaction to her death, and the impact on her family. These are, not entirely coincidentally, traits that were singled out when Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey’s West Cork podcast was released. Their adaptation rights, for a scripted drama, have gone to the producers of HBO’s Chernobyl.

The Julia Roberts-starring Homecoming is arguably the best TV show spun from a podcast.Credit:Hilary B Gayle

With its episodic structure, the podcast is a natural guide for the television adaptation. The original 13 episodes of West Cork (a 14th was uploaded in May to cover recent developments) are ready-made strands for screen creatives to work with; what does and doesn’t work for the podcast creators can help steer writers and directors looking to fashion a story. The non-fiction podcast pivots on many of the same approaches as the television documentary, allowing techniques â€" and creators â€" to move between the two forms.

The fundamental divide, however, is between the senses. We listen to a podcast, we watch (and listen) to a television series. We have to picture the world the podcast conjures up through verbal description and sound â€" there are no establishing shots. Podcast creators now often talk about being “cinematic” in terms of sound design, and as much as there are difficulties in building an environment aurally, there’s also the freedom to experiment.

The best television show yet adapted from a podcast is the first season of Amazon’s Homecoming, where Julia Roberts, Stephan James and Bobby Cannavale star in an intimate psychological thriller about trauma and memory set around a facility for US soldiers returned from active service. Every episode is masterfully directed by Sam Esmail (Mr Robot), with the camera’s eerily precise angles matched to an acute sense of silence. In some scenes it feels as if you should be able to hear the characters’ hearts beating.

Sci-fi mystery Limetown, also based on a podcast and starring Jessica Biel, is currently airing on SBS.Credit:SBS

But Esmail was always clear about wanting to preserve and translate what fascinated him about Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg’s 2016 podcast, which had the not inconsiderable cast of Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac and David Schwimmer. Horowitz and Bloomberg are credited as the television show’s creators, and wrote key episodes. Homecoming suggests that the differing formats shouldn’t divide those who understand the material best â€" podcast creators can flourish on television, and soon the reverse will also occur.

However there are no guarantees: SBS is screening the sci-fi mystery Limetown, starring Jessica Biel as a reporter investigating a mass disappearance, which was adapted by the creators of the hit 2015 fictional podcast of the same name. It is a mass of moody atmospheres that never quite tie together. The show’s narrative features incomplete recordings, a form that is deeply effective on a podcast, where you can literally leave the listener straining to hear what’s not there. But the viewer can need more than that.

The first podcasts to be mined by television were personality based: 2 Dope Queens became a HBO special, while Desus & Mero is now a next-generation talk show streaming on Stan, with news podcasts such as The Daily following. But now it’s the true crime sagas and fictional dramas that are raising the bar. When podcasting broke through, some believed it would revolutionise storytelling. It still might, but the beneficiary will be television.

*Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead.

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Craig Mathieson is a TV, film and music writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

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