In this Halloween special of It’s a Death Sentence, we lean right into the season of spooks. From childhood terrors to modern traditions, we explore why Halloween holds such a grip on our imaginations. We wander through our Halloween memories, including the infamous BBC Ghostwatch that traumatised a generation.

We talk broomsticks, witches, and trick-or-treating, dive into how Halloween evolved from ancient Celtic festival Samhain and explore how American pop culture supercharged it into the spectacle we know today.

What You’ll Learn

The Roots of Halloween: How pagan rituals, Christian traditions, and pop culture merged into the festival we celebrate today.

Collective Fear: Why Ghostwatch (1992) terrified a nation and why it still sticks in people’s minds.

Legends and Lanterns: The urban myth of Stingy Jack and why we carve pumpkins every year.

Halloween isn’t just about jump scares - it’s about the stories we carry, the rituals we repeat, and the strange comfort of being a little scared together.

It's A Death Sentence is produced by Urban Podcasts.

What happens when grief becomes the starting point for real human connection rather than something to hide away from?

In this episode, we sit down with Ben, co-founder of The New Normal, a charity providing free, non-judgmental peer-to-peer support for people navigating grief and mental health. What began with one conversation between two young men - bonded by the loss of their fathers - has grown into a thriving community built on honesty, compassion and shared experience.

Ben reflects on the origins of The New Normal, the power of creating spaces where people feel seen and heard, and why community can transform the way we move through loss.

What You’ll Learn

Connection Through Grief: How shared experiences can create powerful, lasting bonds.

Building Community: Why peer support can be a lifeline for people navigating loss.

Embracing Mortality: Why accepting death can help us live more fully in the present.

This conversation is a reminder that grief doesn’t have to be faced alone and that from the hardest moments, the most extraordinary communities can emerge.

It's A Death Sentence is produced by Urban Podcasts.

How do you grieve a parent you’ve already been saying goodbye to for years?

In this episode of It’s a Death Sentence, Emma shares the story of her dad, Peter Skipp - a kind, intelligent man who lived a vibrant life before Alzheimer’s slowly altered the rhythm of their family’s world.

Emma reflects on the long arc of her father’s illness, from the first signs of dementia to the moments before his death, and the strange calm that followed the funeral. It’s an honest, unflinching conversation about memory, care, guilt, laughter, and the unexpected ways grief unfolds when you’ve been grieving long before someone dies.

What You’ll Learn

The Long Goodbye: How dementia reshapes grief, often beginning long before the final day.

Caring in a Flawed System: The realities of navigating diagnosis, healthcare, and daily caregiving with love and frustration in equal measure.

Moments That Stay: How small gestures, humour and fleeting lucidity become anchors in the storm of loss.

This is a story of holding on, letting go, and remembering the full person behind the diagnosis.

It's A Death Sentence is produced by Urban Podcasts.