Scamanda
4.4/5
Critic Rating
Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian.A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest.But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know.She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world. Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda’s blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable road to uncover Amanda’s secret. Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Liam Hess • Vogue • Jul 19, 2023
"Let’s just say when a story seems too good to be true, it usually is. "
Score: 5
Edward Wickham • Church Times • Jul 7, 2023
"THE most impressive trick of great storytelling is to make us want to know what happens even when we know what happens. The guilt of Amanda Riley is known before the first minute of Charlie Webster’s seven-hour, eight-episode podcast. It is not whether she did it which fascinates, but the how and the why. This is not an easy narrative strategy to maintain, and halfway into the series we find that there are, in fact, a clutch of people who had Riley down as a bad’un from the outset."
Score: 5
Keelin • Mentally? A Magpie. • Jun 29, 2023
"While the story is difficult, there is a sense of comfort in the podcast itself. Hours of my day were spent with this story because each episode has its own hook, line, sinker, and cliffhanger. The incredible effect of this podcast’s writing allows you to hold it at arm’s length and get through it, while also feeling both sides. This story is one of unfathomable reality."
Score: 4.5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Jun 10, 2023
"Presenter Charlie Webster – great, as ever – grabs us by the hand and takes us through the Riley story, bit by very detailed bit. Personally, I’m finding that it’s taking too long to get there (we’re on episode 5 of 8, and each episode is an hour long), but the story is well told..."
Score: 1
The Crime Writers Squad • Crime Writers On • Jun 8, 2023
"The podcast "Scamanda" takes too long to tell us too little about a fraud involving a woman faking cancer to get money. It's not the worst thing we've ever listened to, but probably the thing most in need of an aggressive rewrite and re-edit to keep listeners from being bored to death."
Score: 5
Chanel Dubofsky • Mashable • Jun 1, 2023
"It's a terrifying, fascinating ride, and if you're not already angry … well, you've been warned. "
Score: 5
Graham Falk • Scotsman • May 23, 2023
"One of the wildest crime stories of all time..."
Score: 5
Gregg Stockdale • The Podcast Geek • May 15, 2023
"The story is outstanding, and barely believable. Enraging and heartbreaking, as the story goes on your thoughts on the subject will change. The production quality is really great, as you’d expect from a company like Lionsgate. The dramatisations are well acted, and the whole series is expertly presented and produced by Charlie Webster. Ultimately though, this is an incredible story that will have you gripped until the very end."
