How RedHanded Hosts Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire Turned True Crime Obsession Into a Global Phenomenon
…We got quite drunk and talked a lot about true crime at this party. I left thinking she was great, but figured I would probably never see her again. Who follows through on these kinds of things, especially when you live in a city like London? Unbelievably, we had swapped numbers and actually texted afterward. We decided to go for a friend date to talk more about true crime. From there, we decided to just do it. What was holding us back? The podcast really started as a creative outlet…
I had the pleasure of talking with Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire. Nearly ten years ago, the true crime podcasting landscape in the United Kingdom was practically a ghost town. When the two women crossed paths at a London Thanksgiving dinner hosted by a mutual friend, they quickly bonded over a shared obsession with dark, American audio documentaries. They got quite drunk at the party and dreamed up a British version of the true crime shows they loved. They swapped numbers, fully expecting nothing to ever come of it. However, they actually texted, went out for a drink to talk more about crime, and decided to take a massive leap of faith. Today, their creation, the globally recognized podcast RedHanded, pulls in over four million downloads a month.
Neither host came from legacy media royalty or broadcasting backgrounds. Suruthi was born in India, moved to the UK at age five, and eventually studied economics before burning out in the corporate finance world. Hannah had a noticeably tougher road, losing her father at age twelve, a tragedy that forced her to help raise two younger siblings. She studied anthropology at university, viewing it as the perfect lens for their current work because the field explores why people do things. Before finding podcasting, Hannah chased work across the globe, teaching English in Costa Rica and Korea before returning to London. When she met Suruthi, Hannah was living in a property guardianship with very little money, stringing together three separate jobs just to survive. She willingly took on a fourth job simply to make the podcast a reality.
The early days of their show were far from glamorous. Their very first episode was famously recorded in the tight, airless space under Hannah’s stairs using a cheap ten-pound microphone. “We got locked in for hours, and it was miserable,” Hannah admits. Yet, that raw, unpolished start became a badge of honor for their dedicated fans, who now celebrate Cupboard Day every single year. Both women worked demanding day jobs while churning out a weekly show, a brutal schedule that pushed them to the brink of quitting multiple times. Suruthi points out that having no media training meant they made their mistakes in full view of the public. Because they cover complex legal systems across the globe, getting facts wrong meant facing intense online backlash. Suruthi says they got dragged over the coals so many times that they are now rock solid in their research.
A pivotal turning point arrived from an entirely unexpected corner of Hollywood. Just as the crushing workload had them seriously debating whether to walk away entirely, they received a message from a fan. Dan Harmon, the creator of the television shows Community and Rick and Morty, had shouted them out on his own live show, Harmontown, calling RedHanded his new favorite audio obsession. Harmon even offered to fly them out to Los Angeles to hang out and record. Suruthi had to ask her boss for time off just to fly to California and appear on his stage. That massive exposure supercharged their listener numbers and changed the trajectory of their careers forever.
Today, the duo manages a team of five, commands sold-out international tours, and has authored a bestselling book. Despite the massive scale, they view their work through a highly grounded lens. Their show is heavily researched, yet they do not pretend to be real detectives. They are storytellers piecing together the psychology and societal failures behind unthinkable acts. Their connection with their listeners is deeply personal. Fans frequently tell them how the podcast kept them company through grueling months of cancer treatments or deep depression. It is a reality that both hosts find profoundly humbling, realizing their voices bring comfort to people during their darkest hours. Beyond the flagship show, they also host a sister program called Shorthand, dropping shorter episodes on everything from the sinking of the Titanic to famous art forgeries, keeping their creative wheels turning.
Their journey from a literal cupboard to headlining venues like the iconic London Palladium came with hard-earned wisdom. Hannah stresses the importance of independence and self-reliance in the entertainment industry. “There is no replacement for being your own boss,” she says. “Once you have been, you become totally unemployable.” She also warns against blind trust in the business world, noting that you should never assume someone will protect you just because they say they will. Suruthi echoes this grit, pointing out that waiting for the perfect moment is a dangerous trap. “Just start,” she advises. “Don’t wait for all the conditions to be perfect before you begin.” Through exhaustion, public mistakes, and a relentless release schedule, Suruthi and Hannah built an empire on their own terms. As Suruthi puts it, referencing a quote that fuels her own personal ethos: “A winner is just a loser who tried one more time.”
Yitzi: Suruthi and Hannah, it’s so nice to meet you. Before we dive deep and talk about your work, our readers would love to learn about each of your origin stories. Can you share with us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the amazing work that has come since then?
Suruthi: Oh wow, that’s going quite far back. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked us that, which is really interesting. As for my childhood, I was born in India and moved to the UK with my parents when I was about five years old. I have lived here ever since. I went to university and studied economics, planning to work in finance. I did that for a bit but didn’t massively enjoy it. I wanted to do something a bit more creative, which led me to organizing conferences. It doesn’t sound creative, but it was creative enough, and the money wasn’t too bad either. After that, I decided to take a break and travel for a year. When I returned to London from my travels, I was at a bit of a loose end. A childhood friend invited me to a Thanksgiving dinner at the house where he was staying. I went there and was lucky enough to meet Hannah for the first time. We hit it off talking about true crime podcasts. Hannah had been living in Korea for a while, which I’m sure she’ll tell you about, making both of us early listeners to podcasts in the UK. This was about 10 years ago. Back then, even people in their twenties weren’t massively consuming podcasts on the scale they do now. When we met each other, it felt incredible to find another person listening to podcasts, specifically the true crime ones I enjoyed. The ones we were listening to at the time felt very American. We thought there wasn’t another British true crime podcast doing what these Americans were doing, and wondered if we should start one. We got quite drunk and talked a lot about true crime at this party. I left thinking she was great, but figured I would probably never see her again. Who follows through on these kinds of things, especially when you live in a city like London? Unbelievably, we had swapped numbers and actually texted afterward. We decided to go for a friend date to talk more about true crime. From there, we decided to just do it. What was holding us back? The podcast really started as a creative outlet. Hannah was in a very demanding job, and I had gotten a job as soon as I returned from traveling, keeping us extremely busy. We worked on it during evenings and weekends. It quickly spiraled and turned into this show that neither of us expected, especially at the start. There were lots of times we wanted to quit because it was taking up so much of our time. However, it turned into what it is today. Now, nearly 10 years later, it’s massively successful, touch wood. We have a team of five people working for us, and we’ve just gone from strength to strength.
Hannah: I moved around quite a lot as a kid and ended up down south when I was about six or seven. My dad died when I was 12, leaving me, my mum, my brother, and my sister, who are significantly younger than me. It’s a bit of a classic situation — are you funny or was your childhood fine? It bred in me a hyper-independence and an ability to do lots of things at once, such as being at school and helping raise two children simultaneously. I initially thought I was going to be an actor but lost my confidence a bit and decided to go to university instead. I studied anthropology. I actually think I am the only person in my year group who uses their degree in what they do. Anthropology explores why people do things, and that is what true crime is at its essence. It’s most interesting when people do things you think are unimaginable. That makes sense in reverse, but I didn’t know that when I graduated. I panicked and moved to Costa Rica to teach English for a bit. That was not as easy as I thought it would be because, surprise, the jobs are in the capital city, not on the beaches. After that, I moved to Korea to teach English, which was a bit more financially beneficial. However, I always knew I wanted to go back to London and work in theater on the production side of things. That is really hard; London is competitive, and it’s a very small industry. I was thinking about this morning: RedHanded is the only time in my life I’ve ever had just one job. When I met Suruthi, I was living in a property guardianship because I didn’t have any money. I actually had three jobs when we met, and I took on a fourth to make a podcast. It worked out. Having that survival mentality and always needing multiple jobs gave me a work ethic that made RedHanded possible. As Suruthi mentioned, we both had full-time jobs, and RedHanded felt like another full-time job. For the first two years, we just had to push through it. It was worth it in the end, but there were a few big moments where both of us nearly walked away. Then, a week or even a day later, something amazing would happen, and we would agree to commit for six more weeks. And here we are.
Yitzi: You probably have incredible stories from producing the program, experiencing fan reactions, and doing live events. While I’m sure it’s difficult to single them out, can you share one or two stories that stand out in your mind from your career as a podcaster?
Suruthi: Oh gosh, there are so many. We have been lucky enough to be doing this for nearly a decade, as Hannah said, which has been quite the journey. One story really stands out because it was the launching point for us to go from a podcast doing well in the UK to something bigger. We had been picked up by a company called Acast that started to monetize our show for us, but we were at a point where we had to decide if we were going to keep doing this. It was a massive time commitment for both of us, and we debated whether to just say we had fun and call it a day. This was a real crossroads moment because we were both working full-time. Then one day, we received a tweet from someone who had been at a live recording in LA of Dan Harmon’s podcast, Harmontown. Dan is obviously the writer of Community and Rick and Morty. The tweet basically said he mentioned us in his recording that week. His show was recorded live every week, and the podcast would come out later. We had to wait until the episode came out since we hadn’t been there live. When we listened to it, we couldn’t believe we were hearing Dan Harmon — someone of his caliber — saying that he and his girlfriend at the time, now fiancée, were obsessed with true crime podcasts. He mentioned his latest favorite was hosted by two British ladies, Hannah and Suruthi, and it was called RedHanded. It felt like such a surreal moment. He went further and said that if we were up for it, he would love to fly us to LA to come on Harmontown just to hang out. It was unbelievable. I had to ask for time off from my boss to go to LA and appear on his show. It was so far removed from anything we could have imagined at that point. He was true to his word; we flew out there, went on the show, and he was incredibly lovely. From that point on, we saw a huge boost in numbers, which is obviously what he wanted to give us. We will always be extremely grateful to Dan for doing that. That was a really big turning point for us. Beyond that, we have so many meaningful experiences with our fans. We’ve been lucky enough to tour North America, Australia, Canada, all over Europe, and the UK. So many times, we meet people who tell us we were with them through months of cancer treatment or horrible bouts of depression. We always tell them we were just there to keep them company; they pulled themselves through it. It’s an incredibly humbling thing to realize that podcasting is quite a solo pursuit for listeners. It’s not the same as watching TV or a movie. It’s humbling to know that during difficult moments when people feel alone, we can be there for them just by doing what we love and telling stories. It was never why we intended to start this show, but it is an amazing outcome.
Hannah: Sure. The touring element is astonishing to even contemplate. I actually had a moment the other day when I went to see Lily Allen at the Palladium. I’ve always loved Lily, and the Palladium is a super iconic venue in London, where we have also played. We sold it out years ago, and it was one of the most incredible nights of my life. I first saw Lily perform 20 years ago at the Brixton Academy when I was 15. When she came out on stage, I remembered looking at her as a teenager and thinking how amazing it must feel to have all those people come to see you because they love your work. Now I know that feeling because I’ve done it in that exact room. That is an overwhelming feeling of achievement that I never thought I would touch.
Yitzi: There’s a saying that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a humorous mistake you made when you were first starting, and the lesson you took from it?
Suruthi: We made so many mistakes. One of the fantastic things about where Hannah and I started from is evident when you look at the podcasting landscape today. Not to take away from anyone, but many current podcasters are celebrities who have been in the public eye for years. They are media trained, know how to conduct themselves, and have a team to support, edit, and produce the show. Or, it’s legacy media producing content. They all know what they’re doing. Hannah and I came from nowhere near the public eye. We were just two ordinary people who started a podcast that turned into what it is today. Because of that, we made countless mistakes when we started and had no idea what we were doing. Surviving that period meant getting absolutely destroyed online for our errors. Since we cover cases from all over the world, we might say something wrong or misunderstand the nuance of a particular legal system in an obscure case. We got dragged over the coals so many times that we are now rock solid. We make sure everything we say is correct and fact-check constantly, as much as humanly possible given the volume of content we create. Having so little help and background knowledge — just me, Hannah, a laptop, and a microphone — was a baptism of fire. It enabled us to become the solid, resilient show we are now because we got burnt for every mistake we made. As a specific example, we decided from the start that it would be a weekly show. Why did we decide to do that? It was terribly labor-intensive, and we were drowning. Ultimately, while that felt like a mistake at times, it is probably what propelled us to grow as quickly as we did because we were putting out so much content. RedHanded was born off the back of many mistakes that we paid the price for, and it is what it is now because of them.
Hannah: I can’t think of a specific one either, but to follow up on what Suruthi was saying about a weekly release, it means that as a creator, you don’t have time to wallow in your mistakes. If we release a terrible episode that people hate, the virtue of our tight schedule — we now do three weekly shows — means we don’t have time to dwell on it. It is a double-edged sword, but there are virtues to having such a strict release schedule. It doesn’t give you three days to go to bed and cry about it, because you simply can’t.
Yitzi: Okay, let’s talk about the show. You’ve been blessed with a lot of success, and many people have tried to do what you do, but nobody does it quite as well. From your perspective, what do you think it is that captured people’s hearts and minds about your series, RedHanded?
Suruthi: If I were to try and understand the minds of our listeners, I think we are popular because Hannah and I don’t come from a background with a pre-existing agenda when telling true crime stories. We aren’t former detectives, and we don’t come from legacy media. We approach it purely as two people who, just like our listeners, are deeply interested in true crime. People always ask us why true crime is having a moment right now. We wrote a book a few years ago during COVID, and we noted that this fascination is nothing new. True crime has fascinated people for as long as they have existed. There has always been an inherent draw to the extremes of human behavior and the slightly macabre, and true crime feeds that appetite. However, ordinary grassroots people talking about true crime was noticeably missing. True crime consumption usually came from documentaries, news articles, or books. There wasn’t a vessel for everyday people to discuss it. When podcasting came along, we filled that niche. Our show is incredibly well-researched; a minimum of 15 pages of script goes into a one-hour episode. At the same time, our strength lies in storytelling. We always say we’re not an investigative podcast, but a storytelling one. The rapport Hannah and I share is something we never expected, considering we were strangers 10 years ago. The relatability and the way we link the cases to our own lives and experiences make true crime feel less dark and sordid. It feels like you’re hanging out with your friends while they tell you about an interesting case. I think it’s a combination of all those things that people find appealing.
Hannah: I think it’s because we really started with nothing. In the first two years, our growth was incredibly rapid. We recorded our very first episode in the cupboard under my stairs; we got locked in for hours, and it was miserable. We released that recording, and now people celebrate “Cupboard Day” every year. There is a strong sense among our listeners of having been with us since the cupboard and following our journey to where we are now. We are just normal people who decided to do something, and it worked. That is a significant story, and one people really relate to. I also think it’s the rapport. When we do panels for people wanting to start their own podcasts, I always say that there are no new ideas. People spend so much time trying to be completely unique, but the only truly unique thing about your show is you. Someone else has likely come up with your concept, but they aren’t you. What makes RedHanded what it is, is that it’s ours. If it were in someone else’s hands, it would be completely different.
Yitzi: Okay, let’s get to our signature question. Suruthi and Hannah, each of you has been blessed with a lot of success, and you must have learned a ton from your experiences. Looking back to when you first started podcasting, can you share five things that you’ve learned over the years that would have been nice to know when you first started? Suruthi, please.
Suruthi: Okay, five things I’ve learned over the years that I wish I knew at the beginning.
- First, this feels more like a piece of advice, but it’s something I wish we had been told: just start. Whatever it is, even if it’s not a podcast, just start. Don’t wait for all the conditions to be perfect before you begin. The sooner you do it, the sooner you can figure out how to improve.
- Second, as soon as you are financially able, find people to cover your weaknesses and delegate tasks. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Make it a key priority to generate income so you can hire help. I wish we had thought about that more intentionally from the beginning.
- Third, be intentional. For a long time, Hannah and I were extremely passionate about the creative side, but we didn’t think about the next steps. There were podcasts starting around the same time as us that immediately focused on merchandise and tours, while we could barely get a weekly episode out. We could have been a bit more intentional, though it didn’t turn out too badly for us.
- Fourth, find somebody you love working with and focus on something you love. Don’t pick a topic just because you think it will make money. I made that mistake by studying economics at university because I thought I wanted to work in finance, and I ended up hating it. Creating something you love with someone you care about, and having others enjoy it, is incredibly rewarding. Follow your passion, and it will pay dividends later.
- For my fifth point, I would share that complacency is what will kill you. From the start, Hannah and I were fixated on being consistent and competent. We always released when we said we would, ensuring everything we put out was our absolute best. While we worked ourselves into the ground at the start, it paid off. However, we should have approached it by creating the best product we could within the time parameters we had, and then moving on to the next thing. Both of us have perfectionist tendencies, which can be a good thing, but also a bit of a curse.
Hannah:
- Number one: it is impossible to please everyone, so don’t try. It’s a statistical impossibility, so don’t waste your time.
- Number two: there is no replacement for being your own boss. Once you have been, you become totally unemployable.
- Number three: never assume someone will protect you just because they say they will. Their own interests will always come before yours, no matter what they say.
- Number four: eventually, you have to learn not to work yourself into the ground, but that time is later. You have to push hard right now.
- And number five: merchandise is a waste of time. The profit margins are horrible, so don’t bother.
Yitzi: On a personal level, can you share some of the self-care routines that you do to help your body, mind, and heart to thrive?
Suruthi: During the first three years of the podcast, if you had asked either of us that question, we would have asked what self-care meant. There was none of that going on because it felt like there wasn’t any time. Now, the stress has evolved. It’s about managing a team, running the business, preserving what we’ve built, and staying on the content treadmill. It’s still stressful, just in a different way. To manage it, both of us have dogs, which is a big win. My dog forces me to get my 10,000 steps every single day, even if I don’t make it to the gym. Another big factor is knowing when to call it a day. When we first started, we felt we had a lot to prove, so we never knew when to shut the laptop. We would keep going, even if it meant working all night. Now, we try to give ourselves a bit more grace. We don’t cram like we’re preparing for a final exam. We just try to be a bit kinder to ourselves and go on lots of walks.
Hannah: I am not particularly good at self-care. What has changed in the last few years is that I try to take a more cumulative approach. I find the concept of taking it “one day at a time” quite tricky because it conflicts with trying to get out of survival mode. What I do differently now is consider the end result. If I stay up three nights in a row, what will happen? I never would have contemplated that before. I try to look at everything from a bird’s-eye view, whereas for years, I was deep in the weeds.
Yitzi: Okay, this is our final aspirational question. Suruthi and Hannah, because of your amazing work and the platform that you’ve built, it’s not an exaggeration to say that each of you are people of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can spread.
Suruthi: That is a tricky one. Mine is less of a collective movement and more of a personal ethos I wish more people would adopt. I am a big believer in personal responsibility and the idea that you get out what you put in. Everything Hannah and I invested into this podcast is what we are now reaping the rewards from. I was looking at the briefing before this interview about sharing an inspirational quote, and I found one that I would tell people. It sounds cheesy, and you could embroider it onto a cushion, but I honestly think it’s the best advice: a winner is just a loser who tried one more time. Through personal responsibility and hard work, I genuinely believe you can achieve so much. We are living proof of that; we came from nothing to where we are now. Every time you want to quit, try one more time. But also, give yourself some self-care in between.
Hannah: I am going to have to steal Suruthi’s advice from earlier: don’t wait. Don’t wait to do the thing. There is never a perfect time to start. So many people wish their lives away waiting for perfect conditions that will never exist.
Yitzi: That’s amazing. How can our readers continue to follow your work, how can they subscribe and listen to your podcast, and how can they support your work in any possible way?
Hannah: They can find our podcast, RedHanded, and our sister show, Shorthand, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you find your podcasts. They can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at redhandedthepod.
Suruthi: Absolutely. And on YouTube — we are doing YouTube in a big way now. We’ve talked a lot about true crime because that is our flagship show, RedHanded. However, as Hannah mentioned, we have a sister show called Shorthand that we’ve been doing for a few years. These are 20-minute episodes that we release twice a week, covering topics other than true crime that we are interested in. For instance, it’s the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this week, so we released an episode on what really went down. We’ve covered an art forger, Wallis Simpson — the woman who lured a British king away from the throne — and all sorts of other things. If you’re interested in topics beyond true crime, come listen to Shorthand.
Yitzi: Suruthi and Hannah, it’s been a true delight to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings, and I hope we can do this again next year.
Hannah: Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. It’s been fun.
How RedHanded Hosts Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire Turned True Crime Obsession Into a Global… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.