Cover

Cover

Cover is an award-winning series investigating true stories of people living secret double lives, presented and produced by Mark Horgan and Ciarán Cassidy.

Series 1: Where Is George Gibney? An Olympic coach charged with child sexual abuse who never stood trial. Instead, he vanished. Series 2: Stakeknife. A man tasked with finding and killing alleged IRA informers who was, in fact, a British agent all along.

You can contact our production team about either series at cover@bbc.co.uk.

Credits for series 2: Stakeknife -

Reporter: Mark Horgan Produced and written by: Mark Horgan and Ciarán Cassidy Co-Producer: Paddy Fee Editing and Sound Design: Ciarán Cassidy Composer: Michael Fleming Sound mixing: Ger McDonnell Theme tune by Lankum Artwork by Conor Merriman Assistant Commissioners for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna Commissioning Editor for BBC: Dylan Haskins

Cover is a Second Captains & Little Wing production for BBC Sounds.

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Episode's summary

Almost three years on from our last episode, there’s a significant update on the case of George Gibney. We also hear from contributors to the podcast series speaking publicly at an emotional event in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Credits Reporter: Mark Horgan Produced and written by: Mark Horgan, Ciaran Cassidy Co-Producer: Maria Horgan Research and fact checking: Killian Down Editing: Mark Horgan Composer: Michael Fleming Theme tune: Aaron Dessner Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Where is George Gibney? is a Second Captains Production for BBC Sounds. This podcast refers to child sexual abuse and contains interviews that some listeners may find upsetting, as well as some occasional strong language. If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Episodes

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11. Case Update

Almost three years on from our last episode, there’s a significant update on the case of George Gibney. We also hear from contributors to the podcast series speaking publicly at an emotional event in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Credits Reporter: Mark Horgan Produced and written by: Mark Horgan, Ciaran Cassidy Co-Producer: Maria Horgan Research and fact checking: Killian Down Editing: Mark Horgan Composer: Michael Fleming Theme tune: Aaron Dessner Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Where is George Gibney? is a Second Captains Production for BBC Sounds. This podcast refers to child sexual abuse and contains interviews that some listeners may find upsetting, as well as some occasional strong language. If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

24 Nov 2023
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Mark explains why this feed is now called Cover.

A message from Mark Horgan on a new investigative series launching next week from the production team behind ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ This new series will focus on another figure who lived a double life and was eventually forced to live under cover. And it’s a story, like the George Gibney one, that many would prefer was never told. So from this point on, this feed will be renamed ‘Cover.’ Series 1 one of which was ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and series 2 is coming next week, first thing on Tuesday the 12th of November. You can continue to contact our production team about either series via our new email cover@bbc.co.uk and rest assured, any significant future movements in the story of George Gibney will also be covered right here. Talk to you again next week.

08 Nov 2024
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12. Case Update: George Gibney Arrested in Florida

In a hugely significant development, the former Irish Olympic swimming coach George Gibney has been arrested in Florida. Mark brings us the very latest. Credits Reporter: Mark Horgan Produced and written by: Mark Horgan Composer: Michael Fleming Theme tune: Aaron Dessner Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins Where is George Gibney? is a Second Captains Production for BBC Sounds.

11 Jul 2025
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Introducing... Stakeknife

In Northern Ireland from 1978 to 1994, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers; people accused of passing information to the police and the British Army. But the man who often found, tortured, and sometimes killed these men and women was himself an informer, a secret British Army Agent with the codename Stakeknife. Using secret recordings, reporter Mark Horgan traces the astonishing double life of Freddie Scappaticci. Why was he protected? How did he walk the tightrope between the IRA and British Army intelligence for so long and when murders, often of entirely innocent people, were sometimes allowed to take place despite state security force surveillance, who gets to play God? This series is about far more than just one man; it’s about the state structures that protected him. From the production team behind the international award-winning ‘Where Is George Gibney?’, Stakeknife tells the story of one of the most-contested and darkest episodes of the Troubles. When neither side wants the story of Stakeknife…

12 Nov 2024
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1. The Man Who Never Was

A man flees Northern Ireland when he’s named as Stakeknife. At a surprise press conference a few days later he denies the charges but a forgotten tape comes back to haunt him. Credits Reporter: Mark Horgan Produced and written by: Mark Horgan and Ciarán Cassidy Co-Producer: Paddy Fee Editing and Sound Design: Ciarán Cassidy Composer: Michael Fleming Sound mixing: Ger McDonnell Theme tune by Lankum Artwork by Conor Merriman Assistant Commissioners for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna and Sarah Green. Commissioning Editor for BBC: Dylan Haskins Stakeknife is a Second Captains & Little Wing production for BBC Sounds.

22 Nov 2024