Fred Jeffs: The Sweetshop Murder Podcast
An original podcast investigating the murder of Quinton sweetshop owner, Fred Jeffs, in 1957. Investigated & narrated by his Great-Nephew, Graeme Rose.
Fred Jeffs: The Sweetshop Murder is an original true-crime mystery, set in Birmingham and the Black Country that shares the intriguing story of the unsolved case.
When two teenage boys stumbled across the body of Fred Jeffs on Good Friday 1957, it sent shockwaves around the neighbourhoods of Quinton and Warley, close to where the dead man ran his Stanley Road sweetshop. Despite an extensive manhunt, the Police investigation soon grew cold, and in the absence of truth, rumours and speculation persist. What really happened to Fred Jeffs?
As featured in:
Podcast Episodes
Episode 1: Maundy Thursday
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Episode 2: The Short Good Friday
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Episode 2 BONUS: “Here’s A Shoe!”
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Episode 3: A Robbery Gone Wrong
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Episode 4: The Mystery Woman
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Episode 5: The Witness Who Cannot Talk
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Episode 6: Sex and Clubs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
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Episode 7: Let Him Rest
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Episode 8: The Adrian Goldberg Interview
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Episode 2 Bonus: “Jeffs Woods”
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Episode 6 Bonus: Ice Cream Turf Wars
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Episode 6 Bonus: The Search Book
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Creative Team
Writer & Presenter: Graeme Rose
Graeme is an actor and theatre-maker with over 30 years of creating, producing and performing to audiences around the world. He specialises in new writing, adaptation, and creating theatre for unusual spaces.
Most recentlyThe String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety(Birmingham REP /Calixto Bieito /Festival d’Automne); SEEDS, a Podcast for No Stone Theatre; and The Time Machine(Creation Theatre, performed live on Zoom).
He has performed his work at Birmingham REP., Coventry Belgrade, RSC, Adelaide Festival, The Public Theater NYC, and has collaborated on over 150 different projects with many companies.
Photo Credit: Graeme Braidwood
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Music Composition & Sound Design: Fox & Rocha
Fox & Rocha combines the talents of Sam Frankie Fox, a versatile singer and harpist originally from Wales, with the sound explorations of Portuguese multi-instrumentalist Ricardo Santos Rocha.
“Fox’s humour and passion, and Rocha’s virtuosity, are unmistakable” The Guardian
Fox & Rocha have a broad portfolio of live performance and recorded work, with projects having been presented at / with Cheltenham Jazz Festival, The British Council Showcase, The Royal Shakespeare Company. Biggest accolades include Fox’s music being played on Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service on BBC Radio 6 Music and Rocha’s collaboration on the soundtrack of short animation film Água Mole (Drop by Drop) being presented at Cannes Film Festival 2017.
Photo Credits: Marcin Sz (left) and Photo Paperwolf Productions (right).
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Direction: Steve Johnstone
Steve’s work as a theatre director has been about creating work which grows from communities and yet expresses something of the experience of us all – we tell each other our stories to learn more about ourselves.
Steve is the co-artistic director of Black Country Touring and has worked for the company for over 20 years. His work with BCT in recent years includes site-specific productions at the Black Country Living Museum and “Back In 10”- a series of performances inspired by and performed in local shops in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.
Musicians
Sam Frankie Fox – (Harp, Voice)
Ricardo Santos Rocha – (Guitar, Accordion, Percussion)
Martin Cox – (Double Bass)
Supporters & Podcast Development
Fred Jeffs: The Sweetshop Murder podcasts were produced by Graeme Rose using research material initially used to create his one-person theatre show of the same name in 2019, co-produced by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and supported by Black Country Touring; and supported by public funding from Arts Council England. Episodes 1-4 were originally created during this time. Black Country Touring has commissioned Graeme to produce a further 3 episodes and episodes 1-4 have been remixed and re-mastered. The whole 7-part series will be distributed to multiple podcast platforms.
Supported by Creative Black Country.
