Into The Dirt
5.0/5
Critic Rating
Listen to all six episodes today. Rob Moore had a successful career in television until one day he ran out of ideas. After a stint as a gardener, a more enticing door was opened for him. He was offered a job in the shadowy world of corporate intelligence - he became a spy.Tasked with working undercover to extract information from an environmental campaign group, Rob Moore says he eventually became sympathetic to the campaigners’ aims. He decided to turn on his employers and support the group he was meant to be infiltrating. Only it wasn’t that straightforward. He neve...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Ximena Smith • Radio New Zealand • Jul 8, 2023
"[The protagonist of this show is called] Rob Moore, and he worked as a corporate spy, which meant that… corporations would pay him to collect intelligence on particular targets…. But after a while, Rob has a change of heart and decides to switch sides and become a double-agent. Unsurprisingly this does not go well for him and it all blows up in his face. This podcast is a story about his unravelling, but also looks more widely at the shady practices of corporate intelligence agencies…"
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Jul 8, 2023
"Moore loves talking about himself. He’s a tricky person, clever but utterly self-obsessed, one of those types that grab you in a pub and says: “You’re a journalist? Here’s a story for you!” and the story is just… them. Still, it has to be said, his story really is interesting...Luckily for us, Into the Dirt is researched and hosted by Ceri Thomas...And Thomas is brilliant at storytelling: his care, warmth and dogged journalism rescues this weird tale...When Thomas talks to other people about Moore, Moore pulls out of the podcast. Into the Dirt is much better – more interesting, more gripping, more true – because of this."
Score: 5
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Jul 2, 2023
"Due to some early narrative meandering, I spent the first 10 or so minutes thinking this was a show about skulduggery in the asbestos industry. In fact, Into The Dirt’s themes are far bigger and more compelling. It is, above all, a fascinating study of a man with a remarkable capacity for self-delusion. The point here is not just to get to know Moore, but to find out whether he will ever know himself."
Score: 5
Gregg Stockdale • The Podcast Geek • Jun 26, 2023
"...another epic story by those investigative journos over at Tortoise. To quote another overused phrase, “truth is stranger than fiction”. I think that anyone who loves tales of intrigue and espionage will love this show. "
