Everyone Dies In Sunderland: A podcast about growing up terrified in the eighties and nineties - It’s 1988 and Britain has gone bezerk: The Funeral Murders

It’s 1988 and Britain has gone bezerk: The Funeral Murders

Explicit content warning

10/21/21 • 56 min

1 Listener

Everyone Dies In Sunderland: A podcast about growing up terrified in the eighties and nineties

In March 1988 Britain experienced an odd couple of weeks of public executions, lynchings and even a gun attack at a funeral. You’d think you’d remember it.

In the concluding episode of our three episode series the bodies of the so-called Gibraltar Three – IRA members shot in the street by the SAS – are returned home for burial, but a mourner at their funeral has murder in mind. This in turn will lead to another funeral in which two more people will lose their lives in events described as “the most dramatic and harrowing of the entire Troubles”

The episode is literally called “The Funeral Murders”. Listener caution really is advised.

Claire also remembers the cinema of 1988, including nudity in Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, Alan Rickman “doing a German accent and being all sexy and that” in Die Hard and more child sexual exploitation in Big than we remembered.

Gareth also whets your Halloween whistle with some horror film recommendations – don’t say we don’t do nothing for you!

Along the way: Pornography at disused military bases! Pornography in children’s cartoons! The Lewis Hamilton of Pigeons! (He’s dating one of the Pussycat Dolls) Benny Hill rape jokes! “Iron Man, but if Tony Stark had a drill for a penis”!

Gareth calls William the Conqueror “a prick”, Claire clearly lies about having seen Rain Main, John mistakes budgie purchasing for an extra-marital affair! Ted Bundy somehow gets involved in all this!

And there shoutouts to friends of the show @The80sand90sCom @ladyjustice @fmwlpod and @drunktheory – hello!

If you want to know more about this story, Natasha Engel’s excellent documentary (also called The Funeral Murders) is on Youtube here https://youtu.be/n2AX4zm6R10 - although you should obviously look for it on BBC Streaming Platforms first as these won’t have any associated copyright issues.

Genuinely not making up that Benny Hill sketch you know https://youtu.be/MmbFdenAb7o

You can reach us on email [email protected], on Twitter at @everyonediespod, on Facebook and Instagram.

Our theme music is the song “Steady Away” by Pete Dilley and can be found on his album Half-truths and Hearsay which you can/should buy/stream here:

https://petedilley.bandcamp.com/album/half-truths-and-hearsay

One dog was harmed during this podcast. And a bear gets shot up the bum.

“Not *just* a manic depressive, toting around my own crown/I’ve got a positive message, sometimes I can’t get it out”

In March 1988 Britain experienced an odd couple of weeks of public executions, lynchings and even a gun attack at a funeral. You’d think you’d remember it.

The episode is literally called “The Funeral Murders”. Listener caution really is advised.

Gareth also whets your Halloween whistle with some horror film recommendations – don’t say we don’t do nothing for you!

And there shoutouts to friends of the show @The80sand90sCom @ladyjustice @fmwlpod and @drunktheory – hello!

Genuinely not making up that Benny Hill sketch you know https://youtu.be/MmbFdenAb7o

You can reach us on email [email protected], on Twitter at @everyonediespod, on Facebook and Instagram.

Our theme music is the song “Steady Away” by Pete Dilley and can be found on his album Half-truths and Hearsay which you can/should buy/stream here:

https://petedilley.bandcamp.com/album/half-truths-and-hearsay

One dog was harmed during this podcast. And a bear gets shot up the bum.

“Not *just* a manic depressive, toting around my own crown/I’ve got a positive message, sometimes I can’t get it out”

Previous Episode

It’s 1988 and Britain has gone bezerk: Part 2 – Ignorance and chips

2 Recommendations

In the spring of 1988, Britain lost its mind. Public executions. Lynching. A gunfight at a funeral. Four million chickens dying in the aftermath of an interview on regional TV. We’re genuinely surprised you don’t remember.

In the second of a three part series we examine the aftermath of the SAS’ very public killing of three IRA members in Gibraltar, as an establishment ties itself in knots trying to explain how three terrorists so determined to avoid casualties that they will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their bomb only goes off at a specific time on a Tuesday afternoon are such a threat they have to be shot in the street on the preceding Sunday.

We also take a look at Edwina Curries egg-ceptional efforts to make eggs terrifying! YES! EVEN OMLETTES WERE SCARY IN THE EIGHTIES.

Along the way, Nazi saplings! Pork scratching fatalities! Claire improves her snatch. Gareth doesn’t like egg puns. John has a business proposition for former England goalkeeper David Seaman. Edwina Currie is surprisingly vindicated.

You can reach us on email [email protected], on Twitter at @everyonediespod, on Facebook and Instagram.

Our theme music is the song “Steady Away” by Pete Dilley and can be found on his album Half-truths and Hearsay which you can/should buy/stream here:

https://petedilley.bandcamp.com/album/half-truths-and-hearsay

Hello this week to @theJaMcastpod and @The80sand90s.com and of course @yeoldecrimepod and @oklahomicide. Always those guys.

People might laugh at your tattoos, when they do get new ones in completely garish hues

Next Episode

The Ferryhill Axe Murders: Demonic possession in Country Durham

1 Recommendations

It’s spooky season, so the gang takes a trip back to 1683, when the devil arrived in Country Durham and commanded a farm hand named Andrew Mills to murder three children with an axe in a crime described as “the most horrid and barbarous murder that was ever heard in the North”.

And if you so wish, you can try and summon the killer at midnight on Halloween - although you will have to go to the fancy hotel built on the site of the murder these days.

Look, we never said we were growing up terrified in the nineteen eighties.

We also take a look at the poisoned baby food scare of 1988, when – without the excuse of demonic possession – Rodney Whitchelo put five babies in hospital by spiking their food with acid and razor blades in an attempt to blackmail Heinz.

John is “desperately trying to be Victoria Coren Mitchell”. Jane is “perfectly memorable”. Gareth makes the devil sound like Rylan standing in your kitchen trying to bully you into getting a vasectomy. Harry’s get some free advertising they could probably do without.

Along the way: The strange direction taken by the Air Bud franchise! Judith Kerr’s odder children’s books! Murderous Come Dine With Me!

And if you want to recreate the urban myth of the Ferryhill Demon even though the buildings aren’t there anymore the what three words is “sprinter.saloons.sulk”

You can reach us on email [email protected], on Twitter at @everyonediespod, on Facebook and Instagram.

Our theme music is the song “Steady Away” by Pete Dilley and can be found on his album Half-truths and Hearsay which you can/should buy/stream here:

https://petedilley.bandcamp.com/album/half-truths-and-hearsay

Some dogs are threatened with poisoned Pedigree Chum in this podcast.

“When you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank you or forgive you, the Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton will in time both outpace and outlive you/ Hail Satan! Hail Satan! Hail Satan!”