In 1978 a hoaxer from Wearside led the police searching for a notorious serial killer on a wild goose chase. Actual wild geese would have done a better job of catching him. Seriously, the guy literally fell out of the sky and landed on the police at one point and it still took them 18 years to catch him.

This is the story of the notorious hoaxer Wearside Jack, a story involving séances, beer mat caricatures, a huge pot of stew, a bath falling through the ceiling and an alarming ice cream van.

As 1978 isn’t in the eighties or nineties, the gang also takes a trip back to 2006, when the story briefly involved John. Gareth plays Finders Keepers badly. Claire imagines life as a mermaid. John gets gaslit by Aldi. Julian Assange is mistaken for a gerbil.

This episode was recorded in the aftermath of the murder of Sarah Everard and includes an uncharacteristic outbreak of sincerity and seriousness. 

Less important digressions in this episode include slavery, Gunnersarus, people dressed as statues, George Formby being a low-key badass, Tony Blackburn’s interest in suicide and how George Michael loves Joy Division so much he can’t remember any of their songs. 

What have you been scared of completely unnecessarily? Like Gareth worrying about drinking too much tea, Claire being scared stiff by the Honey Monster or John being terrified by the opening credits of Casualty. Let us know at  [email protected], on Twitter at @everyonediespod, on Facebook and Instagram

Craig Charles’ virtual reality gameshow was called CyberZone apparently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLj-xibrpoM 

This is Stewart Lee on Richard Littlejohn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmsV1TuESrc 

This is Stewart Lee on Richard Hammond - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrTMhAO4ac 

During recording John talked about the Japanese term Mono Non Aware. This didn’t make the cut, but you should totally check out friend of the show Bex’s poscast Getting Emotional, which did an entire show about it https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mono-no-aware-with-sonoko-ishii/id1553108837?i=1000510449364  

Don’t watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRXDo8fgEQ8 

Easter egg: Can you spot the moment Gareth does a rude hand gesture? Let us know if you do!