4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
It’s New Year’s Day 1994 and Tyneside is waking up to the news of Viv Graham’s brutal murder. There is tension in the air and nobody knows what is going to happen next. What follows is a spiral of repercussions and tragedies which have spanned the decades and are still being felt to this day.
In the final episode, presenter Livvy Haydock meets pathologist Dr John McCarthy, who walked the scene of Viv Graham’s murder hours after his death, before carrying out his autopsy. It was the start of one of the most high profile murder investigations in Northumbria Police’s history. The killing happened just off a bustling street on one of the busiest nights of the year. Hopes were high that someone must have seen what had happened. More than 1,000 people were interviewed, hundreds of homes were searched and there were countless arrests but they couldn’t make a breakthrough. Meanwhile, Tyneside’s criminal underworld was manoeuvring to capitalise on the opportunities which had opened up to them. Racketeers began trying to move in on some of Viv Graham’s former pubs while his lucrative clubs were unguarded and up for grabs too. For Viv Graham’s family, his murder had catastrophic consequences and sparked a spiral of tragedy, which is still being felt to this day.
Presenter – Livvy Haydock Series Producer – Ben Robinson Technical Producer – Richard Hannaford Producer – Patrick Kiteley Archive Researcher – Jackie Mccoy Journalism Assistant – Tim Fernley With assistance from Jamie Boyle Commissioning Executive – Louise Kattenhorn Assistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah Green Editor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham
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0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
0:05.0 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
0:11.0 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
0:16.1 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
0:19.5 | And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths. |
0:23.0 | We have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives, |
0:26.6 | we've got drama and even comedy experts. |
0:29.0 | We really can do those stories justice. |
0:31.6 | So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find |
0:35.0 | plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. |
0:40.1 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
0:44.0 | A quick warning, this podcast contains strong language and some descriptions of violence. |
0:50.8 | From BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live, I'm Livy Haydock and this is Gangster. |
0:58.5 | The Story of Viv Graham |
1:01.8 | Episode 6, Legacy |
1:05.0 | It was a gray day, it wasn't raining, it was cold. |
1:10.0 | This was New Year's Day. |
1:12.0 | You know on New Year's Day if you go into any street, it's silent. |
1:16.0 | This is because everybody's still in bed, nursing heads that are throbbing. |
1:21.0 | It was quiet. There were no crowds. It wasn't like sometimes you see on the |
1:26.3 | television when there's crowds of people standing at the ticker tape. There was nothing. |
1:30.8 | It was absolutely silent street, the haunted look if you like. |
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