Ex-Taggart star Alex Norton brings our Glasgow crime podcast to life

You may have read our Glasgow Crime Stories series which tackles some of the city’s most grizzly crimes and from Monday you can listen to extended versions on all podcast streaming platforms.

The Glasgow-born actor revealed his passion for true crime stories ahead of the launch. He said: “Even though I was in Taggart for eight years, I’m not a huge fan of detective fiction, I never have been.

“I don’t like whodunnits because I find true crime much more interesting.”

He explained that true crime gives far more insight into “how real people behave”.

“Very rarely are Machiavellian plots involved in murders, it is somebody going off their head while drunk.”

READ MORE: Glasgow crime stories: The murder of Arthur Thompson Jnr and trial of Paul Ferris

Alex Norton Credit: PAUL STUART

The podcast will adapt extended versions of our popular weekly crime series in gripping 20-minute episodes which will capture true stories of crimes from decades past.

Each week, reporter Norman Silvester speaks to retired detectives, family and friends of victims to give a new perspective on crimes that remain embedded in Glasgow’s memory. He has been covering crime in the city for more than 30 years.

Speaking about the series, which he has been writing for over the past 16 months, he said: “It’s no coincidence that Glasgow had Britain’s first-ever police force.

“Most of the crimes we’ve looked at continue to have an impact on the city, decades after taking place.

“For example, the unsolved murders of Patricia Docker, Jemima McDonald and Helen from the late 1960s, attributed to Bible John, still inspire debate and controversy to this day.

“We try to treat each story as sensitively as possible because we are aware that some victims still have living relatives.”

READ MORE: Did Bible John murder Helen Puttock, Jemima McDonald and Patricia Docker in Glasgow?

Alex Norton Credit: PAUL STUART

The podcast will capture the intricacies of Glasgow’s crime underground in a similar way as the beloved detective show Taggart. 

Alex, who played DCI Matt Burke for a number of years, said that the city itself was key to the show’s success.

He said: “It doesn’t matter where you are from, there’s nothing quite like Glasgow. It has its own unique quality.

“If you weren’t from Glasgow or if you didn’t know Glasgow, if you were watching it in France, or Germany or Italy or whatever you would think ‘my God, where is this place?’,” the 71-year-old actor added.

“You would think ‘what is this extraordinary setting where you’ve got the combination of high-rise flats and fantastic Victorian architecture cheek by jowl.

“That was one of the things that made it so successful.”

Having grown up in the Gorbals and Pollokshaws areas of Glasgow, Alex has a personal connection to Glasgow which makes him the ideal voice for the podcast.

Speaking about the idea of Glasgow being a crime-hardened city, he said: “It is a fair estimation of any large industrial city, where there is a lot of poverty.

“I mean I was brought up in the Gorbals when I was a kid and there was no shortage of crime back then.”

The Scottish actor even experienced the grittier parts of the city’s past when he was a young boy, he revealed to the Glasgow Times.

READ MORE: Glasgow Times launches new food and drink podcast

“I remember we lived in a single end, just a one-roomed house, in the Gorbals. I remember waking up one night just with this terrible yelling and screaming.

“I went back to sleep again and, in the morning, I found out that someone had been murdered around the back of where we lived.”

In the first few episodes, the podcast will tackle notorious crimes including the tale of Glasgow’s crime godfather Arthur Thompson and the death of veteran lawyer Willie McRae.

But with a new episode every week we will delve into a countless Glasgow crimes.

Journalist Norman Silvester added: “There are no time limits on the crimes we chose to ­

examine.

“They have ranged from the murder of criminal Kevin Carroll in 2010 to the Oscar Slater case in 1908.

“Readers find our stories give them an insight into life at the time or rekindle memories of their own past.

“We’ve also featured some of Glasgow’s major criminals over the years like crime boss Arthur Thompson Snr, safecracker Johnny Ramensky and bank robber Walter Norval

“We don’t glorify these individuals but there is a public fascination with their lifestyles and they are very much part of the city’s social history, whether you like it nor not.”

Norman has drawn on his own personal experiences of reporting many of the cases highlighted in our compelling series.

In August 1991, he covered the murder of Arthur Thompson Jnr who was shot dead outside the home of his dad, Arthur Thompson Snr.

Two men suspected of being involved in the fatal shooting, Bobby Glover and Joe Hanlon, were murdered the following month.

Their bullet-ridden bodies were then dumped in Hanlon’s car, to be found on the same day as young Arthur’s funeral.

In June 1992 Paul Ferris, a close friend of Hanlon and Glover, was cleared of Arthur Jnr’s murder at the High Court in Glasgow.

Norman added: “There was a changing of the guard and power struggle in the city’s criminal underworld at the time.

“It was a case of out with the old and in with the new.”

Tune in to the first episode on Monday morning that will cover the murder of Arthur Jnr.

To listen to the podcast, you just need to head to your favourite streaming platform and search for Glasgow Crime Stories. 

Follow our Spotify page HERE, or if you prefer to listen through Amazon music you can also find our landing page HERE. 

Our podcast is also on Apple Podcasts, as well as Google podcasts for all the Android users.