New audiobook experience
The Trial of Dr Crippen:
A Drop of Poison
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Full-cast dramatisation, based on original court transcripts
Few crimes have captured the public imagination in both Britain and the United States quite like the case of Dr Crippen – and Sherlock Holmes’ creator, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, witnessed his sensational murder trial, and took notes! We’re delighted to bring this court case to life in immersive 3D audio, working with a remarkable group of stage and screen actors – whose credits range from The Royal Shakespeare Company to HBO’s The Wire.
Cast & Creative
Writer
Matt Richards
Matt Richards has spent more than thirty years writing and directing factual television, working across some of the UK’s most recognisable series and some of the world’s harshest locations.
His career has taken him from living with tribes in the Amazon to trekking through Siberia with the KGB, from Afghanistan and Colombia to the wilds of Panama in pursuit of Francis Drake’s lost coffin.
Now an established author, Matt has written internationally bestselling biographies of Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, as well as The Hidden Army, his acclaimed account of a covert WWII mission, for which he received the Spirit of Tiger Award for Outstanding Documentary Coverage.
His recent book The Life and Trials of Cliff Richard, co-written with Mark Langthorne, charts the remarkable highs, shadows and reinventions of one of Britain’s most enduring performers. Out now.
Narrator
Sandra Parsons
Growing up in Germany, where her father was controller of BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Services), Sandra spent much of her childhood listening to the radio, enjoying everything from The Clitheroe Kid to Dick Barton – Special Agent (not-so-true crime).
She went on to become a journalist, first at The Times, where she launched its features supplement T2, and then at the Mail, where she is Literary Editor.
She teaches yin yoga in her spare time and, in a possible throwback to her early ambition to be a doctor (thwarted by the requirement of being good at physics and chemistry), is the author of Age Less: how I reduced my biological age from 60 to 20… and how you can too. Out now.
ACTOR
Oliver Senton
Plays Inspector Walter Dew & Dr Wilcocx
A National Youth Theatre alumnus and Bristol Old Vic–trained actor, Oliver’s career spans stage, screen, and radio. He is currently touring in a Royal Shakespeare Company First Encounters production, playing King Lear.
His work ranges from Mamma Mia! to BBC dramas and long-running TV favourites including EastEnders, Casualty and Hollyoaks. He has also collaborated with leading experimental artists and companies such as Ken Campbell, Slung Low and Showstopper! The Improvised Musical.
Recent credits include The School for Scandal (Dubrovnik), Coriolanus (National Theatre), The Gifting (Leeds 2023/Slung Low), Trigger Point (ITV/Hat Trick) and A Christmas Carol (RSC).
Actor
Nathan Osgood
Plays Dr Crippen
Nathan has worked across Broadway, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, Chichester and the West End, and his screen credits range from Florence Foster Jenkins and Mission Impossible to The Honourable Woman, Undercover and Holby City.
He is known to cinema audiences for roles in Holmes & Watson—where he played Mark Twain—Me and Orson Welles, and Criminal, and more recently for performances in The English and Central Intelligence. Nathan also works extensively in BBC Radio Drama, winning an Earphones Award for his audiobook narration of Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling, with further notable reads including Middlesex.
In video games, he has voiced fan-favourite characters, including Old Luke Skywalker in Lego Star Wars. He also voiced Clarence Darrow in The Trial of Leopold & Loeb.
ACTOR
Kosha Engler
Plays Cara Martinetti & Melinda May
Kosha Engler is an American–British actor, voice artist, and writer whose career began with her television debut in HBO’s celebrated series The Wire.
After early work in Tuck Everlasting for Disney and appearances on leading American stages, Kosha moved to London in 2005. Her theatre roles have included a striking three-actor production of Hamlet at the Park Theatre in which she performed multiple roles.
On-screen, she has played a rebel commander in Crysis 3, an American heiress in ITV/PBS’s Victoria, Olympias in Netflix’s Alexander: The Making of a God, and appears in Matt Reeves’ The Batman as the wife of Gotham’s mayor.
As a voice artist, Kosha has contributed to nearly 40 top video games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and Payday 3.
Kosha – pronounced ‘Kasha’ – is also a performer of jazz, blues and country. Her son Atticus Brandreth cameos in this trial as a newspaper seller.
Actor
Anna Devlin
Plays Ethel Le Neve
Anna is a stage, TV, and film actor, and she’s also an artist (limited prints and fab tattoos).
Her work spans major studio productions, acclaimed BBC documentaries and high-profile streaming dramas. She is best known for playing Primrose Chattoway in HBO’s The Nevers, with further screen credits including Amazon’s Hanna, BBC Two’s Novels That Shaped Us and The Joy of Oscar Wilde, and Syfy’s 12 Monkeys.
Her feature film work includes playing a young Aileen Getty in All the Money in the World (directed by Ridley Scott), Kat and the Band and the BFI/BBC Films drama Sick(er). On stage, Anna has appeared at the Almeida Theatre performing in Before the Party (Directed by Matthew Dunster).
Her recent and upcoming projects include What It Feels Like for a Girl, directed by Ng Choon Ping.
Recent voice credit: Jinhsi in Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games) and The Trial of Leopold & Loeb
actor
benet brandreth
Plays Counsel for the Prosecution
Benet Brandreth KC is a celebrated actor and comic performer, known for his sharp storytelling, improvisational flair and inventive approach to classical material.
His acting work also includes an experimental three-actor production of Hamlet at London’s Park Theatre, performed with his father, Gyles, and his wife, Kosha Engler.
He is also one of the UK’s leading experts on classical rhetoric — serving as a rhetoric coach to the Royal Shakespeare Company and as an advocacy trainer for the Middle Temple.
He is also the author of two historical novels, The Spy of Venice and The Assassin of Verona.
Alongside his creative life, Benet is a King’s Counsel specialising in Intellectual Property and complex commercial disputes.
actor
Peter Brooke
Plays Bruce Miller
Peter is an actor with an international upbringing across Canada, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, later training at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
The son of a museum director and a psychotherapist, he grew up surrounded by theatre, art and conversation. A childhood encounter with Marcel Marceau, whose silent storytelling held an audience rapt for two hours, convinced him that acting was where he belonged.
Peter’s screen career spans high-end television, feature films and international streaming projects. He is best known for roles in Wonder Woman 1984, Netflix’s The Old Guard, Deep State (Series 2) and, most recently, Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper (2024). His work includes action, drama and character-led storytelling, reflecting a range shaped by both classical training and global production experience.
He is currently filming Ponies, a Cold War thriller directed by Susanna Fogel.
Actor
Michael Lewis
Plays Counsel for the Defence
Michael Lewis is a performer and improviser whose work spans theatre, comedy and collaborative ensemble projects.
Alongside his stage work, he is an active member of a theatre company and a regular player in a Surrey-based improvisation group, where he also teaches improv — helping actors, professionals and beginners alike develop confidence, spontaneity and storytelling skills.
Away from the stage, Michael is a commercial and criminal litigation lawyer with extensive international case experience. His legal background brings precision, discipline and analytical depth to his creative work, making him a dynamic presence in both scripted and improvised performance.
Director
Ben Devlin
A former court reporter at London’s Old Bailey, Ben’s award-winning career spans major documentary series, factual entertainment, talk shows, and high-end adventure formats.
Ben’s work includes large-scale international projects such as Will Smith’s Welcome to Earth (Disney+ / National Geographic) and Chris Hemsworth’s Limitless (Disney+), as well as acclaimed factual films including Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel (BBC) and the HBO series A World of Calm.
He is also the publisher of the Trials of the Century series of audiobooks.
Composer & Sound Designer
Aidan Grant
Originally from Hopeman, a small fishing village on the Moray Coast of Scotland, Aidan has made North London his home, where he composes, edits, and plays the fiddle, banjo, guitar, bagpipes, and the bodhran… you get the idea!
Unsatisfied with that, he is also a member of a multitude of folk bands, playing gigs ranging from local breweries in London’s East End to the British Embassy in Addis Ababa.
He is also a luthier – he makes his own violins.
Editor, Sound Designer, Audio Supervisor
Nick Bridge-Butler
Nick Bridge-Butler is a sound designer, mixer and audio supervisor with over two decades of experience working across film, television, documentary and interactive media.
His screen credits include The World’s Most Dangerous Borders, Sensation, Mortal World and Pleasure Island, alongside a wide range of short-form narrative and documentary projects. He has worked with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon and Al Jazeera.
He is currently Lead MA Lecturer in Audio Post-Production at MetFilm School, based at Ealing Studios, and previously served as Head Lecturer in Post-Production Audio Engineering at Alchemea College. Since 2005, he has also taught at the National Film and Television School, RADA and BIMM London.
